Making Apple Juice

Fruit presses like this can be seen all over the Touraine, and are mainly used for grapes or apples. This one was pressing apples. The apples were roughly cut up and tipped in. After each vat of apples a layer of straw went in as a filter. To really get things going when the press was full, someone stood on top of the pressing board to make it easier to screw down. A nice touch was the apple impaled on the screw at the top, presumably a low tech health and safety device to prevent serious injury if the man in the press fell.

Susan