The cool thing about pressing apples into apple juice at Camp Trinity, is that every inch of the process, from picking apples from our trees to pulverizing the apples into juice, happens right here within Main Camp. Many of the apples come from right over the grass where we sit after each meal for announcements!

We’ve come a long way, however. This is how it used to be done, back in the day:

But today, we rely on the beauty at left. Check out its modern gleam and promise of efficiency – this type of press is also used by wine makers in the Hyampom valley to press their grapes before fermenting them. It uses water pressure to inflate a bladder in the center, pressing the fruit against the metal screen to extract the sweet juice inside.

With our Magic Modern Apple Press ready for action, we gathered our equipment and crew of campers and got to work picking apples. After about 40 minutes of creative team gathering (lots of sports-related attempts to get apples into baskets) we were ready to get started making juice.

The first step? Shred and pulverize those apples. Everyone, STAND BACK!

What comes of this shredder is a pulverized chunky apple mash. We then took the mash and put it into the juicer. This efficient juicer works on water pressure to extract every little bit of precious juice those apples hold.

When he couldn’t wait any longer, Hunter (left) found a mug (that was made in the Pottery Shop) and poured himself a glass of crisp, clear, fresh, tangy, yummy juice….Mmmmm!

Thank you to Kent, our apple trees, our pressing equipment and all of our eager camper picker/pressers who helped make this program area a fun (and refreshing) way to spend a hot July afternoon.