Cider-Makers

Photograph by Gertrude Jekyll

Frm Old West Surrey (1904).

"Cider is still made with the old wooden press. The apples are first crushed by a roller in the cider-mill. Two men work it together by a handle on each side, while one of them presses the . . . apples down towards the roller. The crushed pulp falls into a tub, and is then put into coarse fibre bags. Those are then packed one over the other in the press with boards between. The picture shows how the heavy presser is screwed-down on to the bags of pulp till they are quite flattened, and all the juice that can be squeezed out of them has come away. [continued below]"

Scanned image and text by George P. Landow].

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photograher and (2) link your document to this URL.]

"The heaps of apples, mostly of the poorest of the orchard produce, do not look at all inviting. Many are muddy and bruised, but in they go, mud and all; and when a mug of the freshly-pressed juice is offered, and is accepted, with some internal hesitation, whose outward expression is repressed for civility's sake, one is pleasantly surprised to find what a delicious drink, tasting clean and pure and refreshing, is ths newly-drawn juice of quite second and third-rate apples. For though cider of a kind is frequently made, it is by no means a cider country, and no refinements, either of growing or making, are practised." — Old West Surrey

Bibliography

Jekyll, Gertrude Old West Surrey: Some Notes and Memories. London: Longmans, Green, & Co, 1904.

Last modified 3 October 2006