Community Apple Pressing is based on the idea that Sheffield produces an enormous amount of apples every year across the city, in gardens, allotments and schools, but many of these apples end up wasted due to sheer amount of apples that a mature apple tree can produce and there only being so many apple crumbles one household can consume!
Community juicing is the solution. Regather takes your surplus apples, juices and pasteurises them and gives you some juice back in return.
2022 was an absolute bumper year for apples! We received over 4,000kg of apples which completely smashed any previous record in the last 4 years. Because of this we still have some juice left over from 2022, which will mean that we will be able to exchange apples for juice on the day of donation!
Plans for 2023
We will be opening for apple donations on Tues 4th Sept 3-7pm.
After then, donations will be accepted at Regather (57-59 Club Garden Road, S11 8BU) every Tuesday and Thursday 3-7pm until mid October.
In comparison to previous years, we will be giving donors back apple juice at the point of donation. This is because we have stock from last year still available, it saves on admin our end and you get to enjoy juice immediately!
We are also enforcing a minimum and maximum donation amount. The minimum is 6kg. For 6kg of apples you will get 1 bottle of apple juice. The maximum donation amount for individual donors is 200kg. Anyone wanted to press more than 200kg will need to email [email protected] to confirm arrangements.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NOT ABLE TO PICK THE APPLES OURSELVES AS WE DON’T HAVE THE STAFF CAPACITY.
HOW IT WORKS:
Bring your apples and we will give you 25% of the volume of juice produced back, pasteurised in glass bottles.
Bring them to: Regather, 57-59 Club Garden Rd, Sheffield, S11 8BU on Tuesdays or Thursdays 3-7pm from the 4th September 2023.
All apples must be in good condition, only minor bruising and not rotten.
Minimum donation = 6kg of apples
Maximum donation = 200kg of apples
Weighing Your Fruit
When you bring your apples to us we will weigh them, this is called the ‘Dry Weight’.
We estimate that we can extract 50% of the juice from your donation and this is called the ‘Wet Weight’.
As an example
You bring us 50kg of fruit…
We guarantee that we can extract 25 litres of the juice from these apples.
You get back 25% of that 25 litres in bottled juice = 6.25 litres. Our bottles are 750ml so that would equate to 8.3 bottles (or 8 full bottles) for you to take home.
You bring us 10kg of fruit… We can extract 5 litres of juice from this, and you can keep 25% of that juice. Or 1.6 bottles (or 2 full bottles).
Regather then sells the remaining juice to cover the costs of the project and invest the money made. You can buy our juice here.
COMMUNITY APPLE HARVESTING: GOLDEN RULES
Please remember we cannot process rotten or mouldy fruit. Freshly picked, ripe fruit is best.
If you pick and store your apples before we can use them then please check for any rotten or mouldy apples. Some light bruising, stalks and leaves are all fine.
We generally try to avoid windfall apples where possible, especially if there are pets roaming the garden. All types of apples are great, a good mix of varieties gives the best results. Cookers and eaters are all welcome as they help balance sweetness and acidity. Even apples you wouldn’t consider eating are good (as long as not rotten of course). We can’t take any pear or other fruit donations as we don’t have the right kit to process them.
Picking Apples Methods: (suggestions from The Orchard Project)
These methods are offered as suggestions only. The individuals picking the fruit need to make sure their activity is safe.
1. Use telescopic apple pickers to reach individual apples. This is pretty slow!
2. Shake apples into a tarpaulin or sheet – an experienced and competent person climbs the tree and shakes it, or grip the tree with a hook on a long pole and shake it from the ground.
Wear protective head gear! Gets lots of apples out of the tree quickly. You end up with twigs and leaves in with the apples which are a pain when washing the apples.
3. Shake the tree as above, but just let them hit the ground. This is pretty quick, but lots of bending over. You can get all the windfall at the same time, and sort apples you want from those you don’t.
4. Pick any you can reach off the branch. Easy.
