An Apple A Day...

Grab your cup the press is flowing.

   There is just something about fall, the crisp scent in the air and the crunch of leaves.  As much as I mourn the closing of the pool and the need to put away my sandals, fall has it's own special traditions.  In my house these include making apple cider.
   My father-in-law decided to build his own apple press about 5 years ago and ever since then we have been enjoying gallons of the sweet drink and the production time together.  First we gather apples from our neighbor's tree.  My husband climbs up and shakes the tree like a monkey in the zoo.  Once the apple meteors stop falling, we gather them up from the tarp spread below and fill the bucket to haul to the truck.  One year we had the bed of the truck filled.
     Apples get washed in one bucket and rinsed in the next.  Then they are thrown in the grinder.  This is another homemade gizmo where the apples spin around and are shredded.  Then we gather the apple mash up into a burlap cloth and place it in the press basket.  Pull the handle and the hydraulic press descends on the mash pile. This squeezes out the juice which flows into the bucket unless a cup intercepts the sweet flowing cider.