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"I know it’s still summer
– although the weather would make you think otherwise at
times! - but when I look around the garden I see glimpses of the
next season to come. The softly yellowing leaves, the swelling of
hips and forming fruits on the brambles all hint at one of the most
evocative seasons of the year.
Autumn is a favourite time in our household – we look
forward to lighting the log fir e once more and
enjoying warm drinks after a long walk with the family dog but, of
course, a recognisable symbol that Autumn is almost upon us has to
be the apple harvest.
In this country it is reported that we eat around 600,000 tonnes
of apples yet only produce around 125,000 tonnes and add to that
the growing interest in ‘grow your own’ and you see
that the rise of the home grown apple has begun. 
The beauty of growing your own apples is that you can experiment
with a greater variety than is available in the shops such as the
Worcester Pearmain and the Egremont Russett – the former a
strong scented early harvesting apple and the latter one of the
latest to pick with a rather nutty taste.
 From late August
onwards, pick apples when
they are ripe and the best way of telling this is to place the
apple in the palm of your hand, lift and gently twist – it
should come away from the tree easily.
If you are going to
store apples be careful not to damage or bruise them as they
are likely to rot and if left amongst other good apples the rot can
spread. 
So look over the apples carefully and if unspoilt, wipe clean,
wrap in newspaper and store on trays or shelves in a dark, cool
and
well-ventilated place - a garage or shed is ideal.
If like me, however, you plan to do something more immediate with
your apples then you might want to try apple
pressing.
It’s lots of fun, especially if you involve children and it
really brings out that home grown flavour.
 If you want to give it a
try this year remember that you need to
crush the apples first and it is suggested that freezing the
apples and allowing them to thaw out before crushing makes it
easier.
Once you have them in a crushed form (and they need to look a
bit like they’ve been grated) then pour the fruit into the
barrel part of a fruit press.
 It works by turning a
handle and applying pressure onto the fruit, the juice of which
escapes through oak staves into a collection tray but the pips and
pulp remain in the barrel.
When it has been sufficiently pressed, unwind and the pulp
should be dry and almost cake-like.
Drink immediately or bottle the contents and give to friends and
family. You could even try freezing the juice into ice lollies!
There are many sizes of
presses
available the smallest producing around 4.5litres of juice and the
largest around 12 litres so your choice depends on how many apples
you are able to harvest.
If you get really adventurous you can start blending different
varieties for unique apple cocktails!"
Click here to read Chris Beardshaw's full article on Apple
Harvesting and Fruit Pressing
See what Chris is up to at www.chrisbeardshaw.com and
for further information see his book
‘How does your garden grow?’ by
Dorling Kindersley
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