Nina's Blog - Thursday 23rd October 2025

@ninalanyon I take it you did chop the apples into rough slices first? That would greatly reduce the force necessary.

@ArishMell Honestly I can't remember what the recipe called for.

@ArishMell It was a long time ago and I think I tried both ways. Neither produced a usable effect. I think that what would work is what farmers used to use before hydraulic presses were commonplace and that is a cider mill. But while it doesn't need the same high forces it is still well beyond my craft skills and even further beyond my enthusiasm not to mention that I have no idea where I would obtain the wheel. Or where to store something the size of a small farm wagon

A cider mill is a stone wheel that runs in a circular track. On a farm it would have been pulled around by a horse or a donkey. There is a description in one of Thomas Hardy's books I think. The farms generally didn't own a cider mill they just hired it and the owner at harvest time.

In the past before I received the juice extractor I did use a small grape press but it was a messy and tedious business because the press is only about 250 mm tall and about 120 mm diameter. It was about as effective as the juice extractor but much harder work and much more time consuming. The one advantage is that it produces marvellously clear juice entirely free of pulp so if what you want is just a drink of apple juice it produced a much more visually attractive result.

@ninalanyon Looks good babe.

@22Michelle I'm very fond of this top. It's made of a very odd material that is very stretchy but not because it is elastic rather because it is very crinkly.

@ninalanyon It looks good - as does the skirt.