Fruit Crushing

Quality & Size of Fruit

Although many fruits can be pressed it is apples and grapes that are the most commonly used (and we use apples as an example in the following description). Any sound fruit is suitable; blemishes and the occasional wormhole are not a problem but mouldy or rotten fruit must be avoided. Windfall fruit is perfectly acceptable but it is advisable to wash off any mud before crushing. The size of fruit is not important although small apples are likely to yield proportionately less juice than large juicy ones.

Crushing

All fruits need to be prepared for pressing. The skins of grapes will need to be broken and apples must be crushed to give pomace (a grated consistency). Grapes can be crushed by pounding them in a bucket with a length of clean timber. Apples can be crushed in the same way although this is a much more vigorous process. Freezing and then thawing the apples before pounding will make the job easier. Crushing is essential because a body of unbroken fruit presents a great resistance to pressure (even hydraulically powered commercial cider presses are fed with finely milled apples). Cutting apples into slices is not sufficient. At the opposite extreme, food processors and liquidisers produce too fine a puree for pressing.

Vigo offers a range of purpose-built apple crushers to handle all levels of production. These machines will make fast work of the fruit, producing a consistency appropriate for pressing. We have arranged our crushers below, starting with the smallest, most basic model: