Announcing the 2nd Annual Long Wittenham Village Apple Day at the Sylva Wood Centre on Saturday 21st October organised by Wittenham Warriors, hosted by the Sylva Foundation and including apple juicing, a tour of the Community Orchard and the launch of the Wittenham Bee Group.
Apple juicing in six easy steps:
1. Bring along boxes/bags of washed, dry apples that are free from bruising and mould to the Wood Centre from 10am – 12noon on the day. The quality of the fruit determines the quality of the juice.
2. Your apples will be weighed to calculate how many bottles of juice they will produce and you will be issued with a collection ticket. Approximately 2kg apples = one 75cl bottle.
3. Your apples will be added to others if necessary to make up a full load to go into the Apple Mill where they will be crushed.
4. The crushed apples are put into the Apple Press which with the aid of high pressure water will be pressed to produce juice (no water is added to juice). Vitamin C is added to prevent the apples browning.
5. The juice is bottled and capped (bottles are provided) and placed into the pasteuriser where it is heated to at least 70C and held at this temperature for 20 minutes. This kills any bacteria and gives the juice a shelf life of up to 18 months.
6. Once cooled, the bottles of juice are ready for collection and consumption. Collect your juice between 1pm and 3pm.
To cover the cost of bottles/caps/pasteuriser there is a charge of £2 per bottle of juice or £1 if you bring back your bottle from last year. If you would like to show your appreciation for the service there will be a donations box and any monies will go into future village projects.
If you have have more apples than you want to juice, please donate them as the bottles of juice can be sold to others in the community who don’t have access to apple trees.
If you are unable to get your apples to the Wood Centre then let the organisers (see below) know and they will try to arrange collection.
For more information contact Sally Duff on 01865 407788/07899 097612 or at richsal2000@yahoo.co.uk