Despite the intermittent rain, a dedicated team of volunteers from the Rye Community Food and Wildlife Garden (RCG) set up a demonstration of old-fashioned apple pressing at the entrance to Jempson’s in Rye on Saturday September 20 from 10 am to 12 pm, much to the delight of shoppers, residents, and visitors. This is the third year that the RCG has held this annual outreach event at Jempson’s, with much appreciation for their support and for the visibility and footfall that the location provides.
Volunteers quickly created an efficient production chain, starting with freshly washed and chopped apples—mostly handpicked earlier in the week from nearby Iden orchards but also some that were dropped off that morning by owners of overabundant apple trees – which were put through a manual crusher and then into a manual press, both on loan for the event from the Hythe Environmental Group. The resultant cloudy juice was then poured into a large dispenser with a small amount of added vitamin C powder to reduce browning and oxidation.
Finally, the delicious and nutritious juice was distributed into small taster cups for sampling and / or bottled up in clean recycled containers for the public to take away. Most people who took the bottled juice left a few pounds donation which quickly added up to £72.36 by the end of the two hours.
Freshly pressed, local, unpasteurised apple juice is bursting with natural enzymes, antioxidants, polyphenols, and vitamins—the very things commercial pasteurisation and long storage quietly wipe out. Store-bought juice, no matter how “pure” the label sounds, is usually filtered, heated, and sometimes even reconstituted from concentrate, which means most of the good stuff has long since left the bottle. Fresh juice, on the other hand, is alive—supporting gut health, immunity, and cellular repair in ways a carton never could. Nearly every person who tried the fresh juice verbally expressed their surprise at how delicious it tasted.
Which goes to show that no matter how humans try, they just can’t beat nature’s simply delicious creations!
Rye Community Food and Wildlife Garden has been cultivating a W.I.S.E. Community—Wellbeing, Integrity, Sustainability, and Education—since its inception in 2014. Weekly community gardening sessions are held each Saturday from 10 am – 12 pm at the Rye Community Garden on Love Lane in Rye. All ages and levels of experience are welcome!
Image Credits: Dena Smith Ellis .