EPISODE 780 CIDER MAKING FCTORY
alan skeoch
march 17, 2023
Task: To replicate this cider press in a folk art miniature about 4 inches high and long
in order to complement a wooden quilt apple orchard.
APPLE CIDER MAKING — RED STREAK APPLE VARIETY BEST
Apple cider making was once big business. Apples were available by the tons
each fall and crushing them yielded lots of apple juice which could be converted to
hard cider…i,e alcohol laden cider.
Some apples were better than others. Rather tart cider apples such as the famous
Herefordshire Red Streak made the best hard cider but for some reasons Red Streak
apple trees did not thrive in Canada.
So our hard cider — alcohol laden — was made from pretty well any apple whether picked from the
apple trees or gathered from the wormy windfalls on the ground. I assume these apples were
not selected for quality. Nor did it matter much if they were wormy.
Currently I am working on a wooden quilt that features my folk art impression of
an apple orchard and an apple press. Cider making on Canadian farms was not
exactly done with quality control in mind.
And each fall tons and Tons of Canadian apples were crammed into light wooden
barrels to be shipped to England . I assume that was for the ‘scrumpy’ Cider market.
Scrumpy cider was low cost and low quality … kept often under the bar at local
pubs. I believe that is still the case. Scrmpy drinkers are a special breed. Right
or wrong?
What mystified me about that 19th century business was how these barrels of
apples were kept from rotting. Once a barrel was filled an apple a press was
applied to push the top apples down so a lid could be nailed on the barrel.
Apples pressed together like this go rotten fast. Even apples sitting in an
apple bowl on a table will rot fast the then touch each other. Big bown,
ugly tings. Inedible. They rot fast.
So I leave this question: Did those barrels of Canadian apples arrive in
England as rotten apples and were then made into rotten apple scrumpy cider.
Whereas Herefordshire Red Streak apples made and still make a delightful
sparkling somewhat alcoholic drink. Bulmer’s Apple cider under the title
‘Strongbow’ , an English make, is prominent in our liquor stores.
This reminds me of an embarrassing incident long ago when I was doing research on
English tithe barns and came across a cider making operation in Herefordshire, England..
“Kevin, you keep the video camera going while I do this interview
unannounced. I’ll do the talking.”
“Sure.”
“Hello there, just wondering if you use red streak apples…..”
(The interview went badly…rotten.)
“Just who the hell do you think you are. Nervy bastard. Coming
in here with your smarmy questions and camera rolling. Get out.”’
(I think our son Kevin lost some of his admiration for his father that day.
I wonder where the tape of the three minute interview has been stuffed.)
This was not my finest moment. Never got to taste his cider. We left with our tails between our legs.
alan
Look closely at the apple barrel….see the press? Apples being pressed . They must
have gone rotten fast.