Yarly Mountain Visible from (Parking) Space

The time to stop fiddling around with a few bags of perry pears here, and a small batch of Blenheims there, has finally come. This is what we've all been waiting for, and what marks us out as proper grown-up cidermakers. The Yarlington Mill harvest has arrived...

Though not all of it, and we won't actually be pressing them for a week or two yet...

The van wouldn't take the whole load, so we're back in the orchard tomorrow, mob-handed and keen as mustard to get the rest of the harvest in, which includes a load of sweet apples for blending and some extra sharp-'uns for a bit of balancing acidity. I'm guessing a couple of tons at this stage, with maybe half a ton of Vilberie still to come. That should put us about where we need to be for the amount of cider we would like to make this year.

These Yarlington Mill apples are still quite hard, and need another couple of weeks to mature before they're ready for pressing. Maturing the apples like this ensures that all of the starch in the apples has turned to lovely fermentable sugar, and the flavour will also develop with the rising sugar levels. In the mean time, our wonderfully accommodating neighbours will be opening their curtains to a growing mountain of cider apples over the next few weeks. I think a few bottles of cider may help ease the situation...

Cluckin' Hell - Snoofy-Doof eyes up the Wall of Yarlington Mill Cider Apples