Apple pressing 2019

The apple press will be available at all the Black Isle community markets from North Kessock on 28 September to Fortrose on 2 November.  Bring your clean apples and containers for the juice, and be prepared to work at cutting, crushing and pressing. 

For larger volumes of apples, you may wish to hire the apple press for the day (£5 per day for TBI members, £10 per day for non-TBI members).  All the apple press equipment (including crusher, buckets, strainers etc) are housed in a contained trailer, and requires a towbar to be uplifted.

To view availability of the apple press, please look first at the Apple Press Calendar (https://tinyurl.com/TBIApplePress).  The calendar will not display who has made a booking, but it will display its general location (e.g. Fortrose).  Please take this into consideration when looking for a suitable date as it may be easier to co-ordinate with the previous booker, and this will reduce transport.

Bookings can be made by emailing Duncan Scott at   glenugie@hotmail.com (preferred), or by phone   07923 829542.  The apple press is stored at Glenugie, Culbokie, IV7 8NA.

Upon confirmation of your booking, you will be presented with guidelines and a declaration form that needs to filled in and either scanned and emailed to the address above, sent to Glenugie or taken when you collect the press.

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Preserve your apple juice by pasteurisation

TBI has a pasteuriser for loan to TBI members or hire (£5 per hire) to non-members.
 

The pasteuriser is a bit like a big, insulated tea-urn – but with a thermostat and a timer.

It comes with helpful instructions that give the temperature at which different foods should be pasteurised, and the length of time they should be kept at that temperature.

Put the jars/ bottles into cold water in the pasteuriser, set the temperature and time, and switch on. 

The process can, of course be done in a big pan, but unlike the pan approach, the pasteuriser is big enough to hold 13 x 750 ml bottles, or 7 x 1 litre Kilner jars, and once set, it can be left alone – no constant tweaking the hob to maintain the right temperature.

It can be used to pasteurise your apple juice, freeing up freezer space, and also for gooseberries, blackcurrants, pears, plums etc – a great way to deal with surpluses and enjoy summer fruit in the depths of winter!
 
To hire the pasteuriser  contact Martin Sherring at

martin@pennyandmartin.co.uk  

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How to Harvest, Store and Process Apples

Toni has forwarded an email and video on this topic from Growveg.co.uk.  Here is a link to the page with this guide on the Growveg website.  You can either read the text, with pictures, or view the video from the second picture (the soundtrack is the same as the text).  For all sorts of other information and advice on growing vegetable, browse the Growveg site at  https://www.growveg.co.uk/

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Autumn Food Preserving

Changeworks Autumn 2018 'Too Good to Waste' e-Bulletin has links to various sites with interesting recipes for chutneys and jams. 

Preserving your excess fruit and veg 

 Read the full bulletin.