|
RSS feed for
Craftsbury Sculling News
|
 |
Cider Pressing
02.Nov.2009 For being shutdown, we've been quite busy - we have some big projects going on that we're excited to talk about. But the good news is that it's not all work and no play. At left, you can see a bit of the action from our cider pressing member event in October. Saturday the 3rd, the Center held a cider pressing event for guests and neighbors. Despite some cold, rainy weather, fifteen to twenty attendees gathered beneath the Center’s tent – to make and sample fresh-pressed cider. Outdoor Center staff and athletes from the Green Racing Project and the Small Boat Training Center helped with the pressing.
The wooden cider press was provided by the Center’s co-owners, Dick Dreissigacker and Judy Geer, who demonstrated how to use it. Apples are fed in and chopped by a hand-turned grinding mechanism. Once the bottom of the press is filled with apple pulp, it is squeezed by more hand-cranking and the cider, filtered through cheesecloth, pours out of the bottom of the press. Guests, neighbors, and athletes helped turn the press.
Apples were picked from various locations around the center and also provided by neighbors. It was fascinating to see the sweet and tart tastes produced by different wild and cultivated varieties of apples. And although cider often emerged from the press in blonde or rosy hues, surprising the guests, within half an hour of sitting on the table it had oxidized to a normal, brownish-orange cider hue.
At the end of the event, the group had produced more than seven gallons of cider – a satisfying hour’s work. Judy's gallery of images from the event
|
