"Let 'er rip!" - The cyder from the apple press is first filtered through cheese cloth on its way to the collection bucket
It takes four hands and two people to change out the collection bucket. Not a drop is to be wasted.
The next upgrade is hydraulics to drive the press plate.
The surgery table
Cutting out the bad
"If you work it, you have to wear it." The apple press is a violent machine and it spews mash everywhere, Here, apprentice Ajedo will most likely wear his apple hair until his shower this evening.
Cheesecloth is the workhorse fabric for this operation and must be cleaned frequently because of clogging.
The squeezed cyder is added to the cooking tray.
A fire is kept going during the whole cooking process. The temperature is kept slightly below boiling which is actually a higher boiling point (217 degrees) than if the solution was only water (212 degrees).
Impurities are removed from the top as the cyder is reduced.
“Caught brown handed” - What child growing up has not licked the bowl? But this bowl is six feet long and two feet wide and made of heavy gauge stainless steel. Ater the farm team illed all the jars, Bea couldn’t resist sampling the apple syrup left in the bottom of the pan.
“Drawing it of.” After the syrup is reduced, it is passed a final time through a cotton sack to remove the last solid contaminants on its way into a clean reservoir. Suggestions are never in short supply at Against the Grain Farm. Here, Andy Bryant, farm patriarch, arrives with his knowledge base as a molasses veteran. Linnea has her thoughts, too.
The cotton sack is squeezed and twisted until it finally breaks off. Every drop counts!
Filling the jars
"It's a wrap."
"Taste test! It passes!"
The Against the Grain Farm family prides itself on a culture that anything is possible. Their members will try anything – at least once. They are not afraid of failure.
The farm has made molasses before, which is a very similar process. Start with the juice and reduce it with even heat until it thickens.
A test run on the stovetop gave these adventurers all the confidence that they needed.
Full steam ahead! Literally!
