Cider press Saturday

After weeks of preparation contacting local businesses for donations, placing orders and collecting plenty of apples, we have finally held the cider press event and it was a great success. My major role has been in taking charge of the food, getting it sourced and ready before then running the kitchen for food and refreshments. We were readying the village hall from 10 with setting up the tables where the apple prep was going to take place, piling up the apples themselves, getting them washed and then putting together the presses which would be busy for several hours. I learnt quite a bit about how the process works and it was fascinating to see something so timeless employing quite a number of villagers who got on with it with gusto.

The apples were first washed and sorted with just a few being dicarded, those which were starting to discolour, before being cut into quarters and then poured into a scrutter which pulped the apples as a handle was turned rotating some very sharp blades. That mixture was then taken to the presses where the handles were slowly turned increasing the pressure on the apples as they pressed down harder and harder which released the juice which emptied into containers of all sorts. With so many apples there was a lot of juice which can be used simply as apple juice or taken away and used for cider.

We were lucky to be able to help ourselves to cider which had been bottled previously and very good it was too. I resisted too much too soon and got on with the kitchen where I was looking after the soups, potato and leek which I had made, carrot and lentil and parsnip and apple, all of which went down really well. We had lots of rolls too which had been made earlier in the week plus different cheeses which had been bought at wholesale price from a local business, a gouda type, a blue cheese and a brie. There was more than enough to go round and we had cake to come yet, lots of dorset apple cake including a vegan option. The teas and coffees were starting to flow by now and we were flat out with clearing away, washing and drying.

The next part of the afternoon was for games linked to apples, the apple and spoon race, getting apples through holes for points, apple throwing and closest apple to the marker. During this time I was getting the baked potatoes ready, pricking them and getting them in foil, plus making sure the marshmallows and chocolate biscuits for smores were ready.

We got the fire pit going and cooked around 40 baked potatoes and took the opportunity to have a chat with a few minutes to relax. We had some local musicians then start to play the accordion, violin and borran which was very atmospheric. It really did seem like being firmly back in the past.

I was home by about 7.30 after what had almost felt like a working day, my first for a very long time. It was great fun though and it gave many people the opportunity to enjoy one another's company for the first time. I think the cider was helping by the end!