Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Making Apple Juice





































********Last week, my son-Jared, reminded me of how delicious apple juice is when I make it with my juicer. That's all he had to say to get me motivated.
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Saturday morning, Lon and I went to the Apple Hut and bought a BIG bag of small and inexpensive apples sold specifically for making juice. They were perfect apples, just too small to be sold at the going price. We paid $6.00 for nearly a gunny sack full.
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Saturday afternoon and again yesterday afternoon, I went to work. The photos above tell the story, but you're not getting away that easy. Since I love to write, I must describe the process. Hang around; you might learn something. The weather has been beautiful so I did my work outside and on our screen porch.
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1. First I rinsed the apples in small batches, enough to fill the plastic colander, (they'd been washed thoroughly at the Apple Hut).
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2. After the water had drained off, I took them to the table on the screen porch.
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3. On Saturday, I fed whole apples into the juicer. Yesterday afternoon, I cored and sliced the apples before putting them in the juicer. (Later, I'll tell you why I cored them). When I pressed the apple corer into the apple, juice flew everywhere. I needed a shower and to wash my eye glasses when I was done!
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4. I turned on the juicer, added the whole apples or apple slices to the juicer and used the pusher to press the fruit against the spinning blade. This isn't as easy as it sounds. If I didn't get the pusher into the chute quick enough, the blade would toss apple slices back out, sending them in all directions. It was quite a battle between me and the machine!
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5. When the resulting juice filled the bowl, I poured it into a glass jar. I read that plastic containers can affect the flavor of the juice. After repeating this process several times, I filled 4 jars on Saturday and 5 yesterday.
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6. Voila! Tasty, delicious and nutritious apple juice is ready to chill.
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I read on the internet, that apple seeds contain tiny traces of cyanide. I also read that a person would have to eat hundreds of apple seeds to have any kind of a problem. I discovered this after I made the first batch on Saturday. That's why I cored the apples the second time I made juice. Since I hope to make several more batches of juice, I didn't want to take chances. If I get lazy, I may juice some again without removing the seeds.
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After chilling (the juice and myself) for a few hours and shaking the jar before opening, I poured Lon and myself each a glass and we smacked our lips when we were done. I called Jared on the phone and told him his jars were ready for pickup.
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If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I figure we can cancel our health insurance for as long as the juice lasts!!

14 comments:

Rob said...

YUM! Do you ship to Missouri? :)

Cheryl Peters said...

Rob: I'd sure like to share some with you but I doubt it would get there and still be fit to drink!

Annie said...

This looks yummy!!!!! I bet it tastes really good cold!!!! You could start your own juice making business :) After you ship to Rob, could you send a few cases to Michigan?

Cheryl Peters said...

Annie: Now look what I've started!! You're welcome to come here for a glass, how's that for an option?

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a lot of fun!

I planted a lemon tree last year, and hopefully in a few years I will be able to make my own lemon juide.

We do make plum jam from the "japanese plum tree" we have in the backyard. It is always a joy to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Cheryl Peters said...

darksculptures: Plum jam sounds wonderful! Making your own lemon juice will be pretty neat too.

Anonymous said...

Auntie says you sure get my vote for being quite the juice maker. Have never been a big fan of apple juice, when my grandchildren were little they drank it all the time, but I never could get into it, too healthy I guess. You have all the right equipment and an ideal spot to do it. Keep up your homemaker talents.

Beth W. said...

I can smell that fresh juice. Beautful pictures.

Cheryl Peters said...

Auntie: I'm fortunate to have the screen porch since the process tends to get a bit messy at times!

Beth: I hope to try different apples and find the best tasting ones for juice. I really can't get enough of it.

Anonymous said...

Between the juicy eye glasses and the flying apple slices, you must have put on quite the show. Now try making tomato juice, just don't "core" them. :>)

Walk

Cheryl Peters said...

Walk: Quite a show indeed. I didn't even mention the wrestling match I had with the garden hose!! Tomato juice is a great idea, if only I knew where to get some inexpensive tomatoes. I'll keep my eyes open.

I am Alive said...

Yummmm !

Anonymous said...

Your site was hexed yesterday. Tried to open it and suddenly had five windows of Paper Cut Screams open before me. When I clicked on the "X" to try to close one, five more windows opened, all PCS. DO you have any idea how over-whelming 45 windows of PCS can be?

Gully

Sarah said...

omg, yummmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am dyin' to try this! this looks soooooooooo good!

LOL gully, I've been havin' trouble getting into all the blogspot blogs, yours too. what's up with that? grrrrrrrr