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Pressing Schedule 2024

If you would like to receive a notice about the yearly pressing schedule and reminders before each pressing, please email us and ask us to put you on the pressing list.

Pressing Costs (2024):

You bring us your apples between 9 am and noon on the pressing day and we press them into juice for you. No hassles with those old fashioned crank presses! We supply 2 liter juice bottles (and caps) and call you when your juice is done, usually the same day. Sometimes in October (during the busiest part of the season) our pressing runs will be several days long. We will tell you when you drop off the apples when we expect to have your juice done. We will keep your apples covered and out of the sun until we can press them. We do also have cooler storage for a limited amount of juice if you can't pick it up on the day it is done.

If you have your own clean (never used) plastic jugs or (used and sterilized) wine carboys and caps we charge just for pressing the apples. We do not press into other containers. We ask that people bring only apples they would eat and no drops from apple trees in areas where animals have access. 150 lbs minimum (about 5 medium-sized blue totes). We feel that we should continue to keep our standards at the high level required for unpasteurized juice, and use our UV pasteurizer as an additional security.

Renting our old fashioned Hand Crank Press

• 2 liter jug with cap $5.00
• Wine carboy $2.00 per liter

16 lbs of apples is about 1 gallon of juice (or 4 lbs apples/liter of juice). Some apples are juicier and some drier, so this is just an average.

3. Do I need to wash or cut out the bad parts of the apples?

No, we wash the apples before pressing and we sort the apples before they are washed and cut out or discard any bad apples. Please bring us already-sorted good whole apples - if you miss one or two bad ones, we will sort them out and if there are small holes or bruises we will cut them out. Please don't bring us apples you wouldn't eat!

4. I have an old orchard that isn't fenced and the deer browse in it, can I pick up the apples from the ground and get them pressed?

No, sorry, we won't accept any dropped ground apples when animals have access to them.

5. I save plastic containers and would like you to press the juice into them, can I bring you the containers?

No, sorry, we aren't allowed to do that by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The containers need to be new and sterile.

6. What does UV pasteurization mean?

After our apple juice is pressed we pass it through ultra violet (UV) light in order to kill bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Cryptosporidium. The UV light leaves enzymes intact and some yeasts, and does not change the nutritional value of the juice. The process we use is USFDA and CFIA approved. The processor pumps the apple juice through a clear glass column that the UV light shines through, and the speed of the pump is determined by how opaque the apple juice is - the clearer it is the faster the juice can be pumped through. See this link to Cider Sure (http://www.cidersure.com) for more information about our UV processor.

7. Does UV pasteurization decrease the nutritional value in the the juice?

No - the juice is never heated, so the nutritional value remains the same as raw juice.

8. Once the juice is UV pasteurized, do I have to refrigerate the juice?

Yes - the juice is still a perishable food once it is pasteurized. It can last at least two weeks in the refrigerator and indefinitely in the freezer (although we recommend not keeping it for longer than a year). You should never re-freeze the juice once it is thawed.

9. Can I get my pears pressed?

Yes, we will most likely press pears at the end of the pressing run. We are not able to press other fruit.