Pressing cider for Thanksgiving dinner.

When we bought

the cider press, there were several apple trees on the property that produced fairly healthy looking apples.  We've since moved to another old farm and the apple trees look less than perfect.  That being said, we've been pruning them for a couple of years and they produced enough apples for holiday cider this year.

For the most part, the apples were good enough to use in cider.  It was a fall day before the trees lost their leaves.  We quarter the apples before grinding them in the press.  There's no reason for this other than it makes it easier for the "grinder" to chop them up before pressing.

The grinder is the small box on top of the press.  This is the tedious part of the process because the box is so small.  It only grinds a few apples at a time.

 We tossed any rotten parts before grinding.

Ready to go.  We collected four barrels of apples; some from the trees and some from the ground that were good enough to use.  The deer got to a few of them before we did.

This is the press.  It takes a bit of muscle to turn the press downward.  We keep pressing so that we don't miss any juice.

 All of the cider coming out of the press runs through a strainer.

Down to the bottom of the barrel so to speak!  We freeze the cider until we're ready to pasteurize it.  On a stove top, we'll bring it to at least 160 degrees just shy of boiling.  With or without mulling spices of clove and cinnamon, this is a terrific accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner!