apple cider pressing

A number of years ago we bought a cider press. It's come in very handy too. We've even pressed pears in it and made pear cider and mixed it with apple cider. Just an interesting twist on the flavors. I'm not a huge fan of pear juice, kinda pulpy. We freeze some and turn some into hard cider. Both are yummy to enjoy in the winter! It's all arm power to turn it, the ole arms get a work out. The kiddos even give it a whirl, the older two can do it, the younger two need some help.
 Alright, so I'll break it down per photo. Kinda 101 cider pressing! It's fun.

 This is what our cider press looks like. Very basic and simple. There is a handle on top that twists down when it's being pressed, but I didn't get it in the picture.

This is where you put the apples to be ground up. You can see the teeth of it too. They are sharp and will cut your fingers in good shape.

Grab some kiddos and have them start grinding up the apples. My sister and brother in law came over to join in the fun. They have 4 kiddos too! The red wheel turns the grinder.

 Gotta keep on throwing in apples and grinding to fill up the bucket. I love the sky in this picture. It was so beautiful to look at, so many shades of blue and gray! It's over looking the cow pasture and the hay field.

Here is the bucket under the grinder. The mesh bag holds in the apples, and we fill it to almost the top before we cover and press it. But this is what the apples look like.

 Here it is covered and starting to press the apples! Yummy! The kiddos can do this part too, to a certain point, until it gets too hard to turn the handle. You can see how it collects in the wooden part of the press and then comes out the hole into the bucket.

This is for My Man. He loves this part when the cider is coming out and looks really good. Love the color of it. We like to grab a cup and drink some to make sure it tastes just right! It usually does. Yes we drink it raw. I know shocking right? We know where they come from and use clean apples, and we are careful when we press it as well. We have never had any problems come from drinking raw cider.

This is the pumas (left over apples). We feed them to the pigs and our neighbors cows. We throw it in the bucket of the tractor and it's easy clean up. The mesh bag makes it handy too. When we dig out the cider press we wash all the parts and bleach it as well. Then when we put it away we wash it and make sure all the parts are clean, dry, and then store it away until next season!
Well that's all there is too it! Easy, right?!
Have a great day!