The Taste Of Worcester

The First Bottles

The apple and pears for juicing were picked from the orchard two weeks ago, 43 trays, just shy of a tonne of fruit taken to Waterperry Gardens for pressing. This harvest has resulted in 700 bottles of 'Worcester College Oxford Apple & Pear Juice' being produced, all of which need to be labelled. Two labels are required on each bottle which means rather a lot of labelling!

Labels

The Front Label

A Duck On The Back

A Labelled Bottle

The Demonstration Team

This afternoon the team held an event in the cloisters to promote the orchard, its fruit and the bottled juice. On show, along with the bottles for sale, were named varieties of apple and pears from the orchard and a pressing demonstration with free samples of the resultant juice from the press. 

Bottles Of Juice And Fruit

The Hopper

On a much smaller scale than Waterperry a manual press was used to make juice. First the fruit had to be chopped in to pieces and placed in the hopper. As the handle below the hopper was turned the fruit passed through the rotating metal teeth crushing it in to very small pieces. The pieces, known as 'Pomace', fell in to the bucket below and was then tipped in to the press. Wooden plates were placed on top and the handle turned forcing the plates down, squeezing the juice out in to the sterilised bucket below. This juice was then poured in to a jug and served for tasting. By the end of the demonstration and tasting session 151 bottles had been sold, a great first day of sale and a true taste of Worcester. 

The Press