Our Cider Mill
H
ere at Witt Orchards we press our own cider from our homegrown apples.
What else is in our cider you ask? ... Nothing!
Just apples that have been washed, squashed and strained.
The Witt family has been pressing cider since the 1980s!
NO added preservatives, artificial flavorings or colorants, no sugar (just what's naturally in the apples of course), NO dilution, substitution, or GMOs. It's pure and simple the way nature intended. It's 100% real juice that is naturally gluten and dairy-free, vegan friendly, and contains no cholesterol, trans fat, saturated fat, or sodium! And it Tastes GREAT too!!!
The only thing we do special with our cider is flash pasteurize it (don't worry it's not like the stuff at the grocery store!) All we do is heat the cider up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 seconds before we cool it right back down again. Since this process is so quick (unlike the grocery store "cider" which is heated to much hotter temps for a longer duration of time) our process does not alter the taste.
"So why flash pasteurize the cider at all?" you ask.
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Cider should be kept cold at all times and stored in the refrigerator just like your milk. But unlike your milk, cider will not spoil if left at room temperature or stored for too long. It will simply begin to harden and become alcoholic (you know hard cider like the "Adults only" kind of drinks.) So, let's say you're the only one in your house that likes cider and you're worried you won't be able to drink it all before it starts to harden, or you want to save some for a hot summer day to remind you that the relief of the cool fall weather is just around the corner. . . No problem!
The Witt family has been pressing cider since the 1980s so as you can imagine we've gotten pretty good at it. We even have the awards to prove it! Our cider is a secret blend of some of our over 100 different varieties of apples. Did you know that it takes over 50 apples to make one gallon of cider! And you can only fill about 3 gallons of cider from a whole bushel of apples (one bushel is about 40 pounds of fruit). But all of those apples sure do make for a refreshing fall-time drink.
Cider can be frozen and saved for another day (just remember to leave some room for the liquid cider to expand into a solid ice block or you'll end up with a sticky mess in your freezer.)
Well mostly to meet the Ohio Department of Agriculture's requirements to sell our cider off the site of the mill, but this is also done to enhance food safety. This process kills any harmful bacteria that could try to find its way into the cider. The other beneficial thing flash pasteurizing does, is add a little more time to the cider's self-life. After flash pasteurization cider will typically last for 10-15 days in the refrigerator before starting to harden.
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Did you know that it takes over 50 apples to make one gallon of cider! And you can only fill about 3 gallons of cider from a whole bushel of apples?
... cider will not spoil if left at room temperature or stored for too long. It will simply begin to harden and become Hard Cider. . .
Most years we start pressing in mid to late September (which is typically when the Red Delicious decide to ripen up depending on the weather conditions for that year) and we continue to press cider once a week through the end of the following January (or sometimes later in the year based on demand and weather.) Keep an eye on our Facebook page for the latest update! We will post when we have the first press available and when it's the last call for the season.
Above all else just know that we take pride in our products and if we wouldn't drink it we wouldn't sell it. So, whether you like to drink your cider cold, hot, mulled, or even just cook with it, from our family to yours, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Thank You for your business!
