Apple Fest 2022
Our annual Apple Fest is back again this October! Everyone’s invited to join in the fun. If you have them, bring surplus apples, including recent windfalls or wildings and crab apples or maybe just scrump some, to be juiced in our communal press. Bring your own screw-top wine bottles if you have apples to juice.
PLEASE BRING CASH IF YOU CAN, AS WE MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO A CARD READER
- Watch or join the apple juicing
- Taste/buy unusual apple varieties
- Have a go at apple ‘ID’ (the UK alone has 2000 varieties!)
- Children’s activities
- Jams, chutneys and cake
- Maybe win an award-winning apple-themed embroidered cushion cover in our raffle
How the juicing works
- Everyone’s invited to bring surplus apples, including recent windfalls or wildings and crab apples, to be juiced in our communal press. Please ensure all apples are clean – no need to wash if they’ve been picked straight from the tree but please do wash them if they’ve been on the ground.
- On arrival, please check your apples in at our Weigh-In table. Here we’ll record their weight (max 15 kg per participant), along with your contact details, the amount of bottles you can expect in exchange (one 75cl screw-top wine bottle per 3kg apples), how many you’d like to be pasteurised and when you would like to collect your pasteurised bottles. At the same time please hand in the well-rinsed bottles needed for your expected weight of apples. Unfortunately there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same bottles back at this event but it should be possible at the separate workshop that we may organise for larger quantities of apples on Sunday 16th October.
- We recommend having your juice pasteurised if you expect more than a couple of bottles. This will give it an indefinite shelf life, although why save it for more than a year when next year will bring more? Unpasteurised juice should be stored in a fridge and used within a couple of days. The safe period for drinking will vary depending on storage conditions. Do not drink if the juice shows signs of fermentation or mould.
- Unpasteurised juice can be collected as soon as it’s been bottled. Pasteurised juice will need to cool completely before being taken away. We charge £1.50 per pasteurised bottle (75cl capacity) and £1.00 for unpasteurised ones. We don’t recommend unusually shaped bottles or those with non-screw closures, as the heat treatment means there is a risk of breakage.
- If you have more than 15 kg of apples for juicing, you’re welcome to bring them to one of our workshop sessions on Sunday 16th October, where we can give you individual tuition on how to use the equipment. The charge at the workshop will be £10 per participant per session. We can then give you a ‘driving licence’ that will qualify you to subsequently borrow the equipment for a set fee (£20) and deposit (£20).
For more details contact Alison McCrea (alison_mcc@btinternet.com)
FREE ENTRY – ALL WELCOME