Archive of Reports for 2010 - we had a very successful first year of apple juice production in 2010

From September 9th to October 9th we were at a number of locations in Epsom and Ewell see our 2010 programme

Below is a summary of the main report. Summary also available in Word format
The full report is available, and also the accounts and statistics for events (all Word format)

A set of photos of what we did in 2010 can be found here

Summary for 2010 Apple Season

• 11 events were attended - we went to the Epsom Market on Thursdays five times, to 2 flower shows, to The Grange in Bookham and the Wells Centre, and to the Ewell Court House fair, and to Horton.
• donations of £140.43 were received, which at 40p per cup implies that 350 cups of juice were purchased (and implies that almost 300 free samples were given) A total of 640 cups were used – some for samples, some sold as full cups
• 43 people donated apples, and 40 pressings were done. An estimated total weight of 366 kg of apples were processed (over a third of a ton), giving an estimated 160 litres of juice (280 pints, or 35 gallons).
• The project has also encouraged people to think about the waste reduction and local food issues
• The crusher and press were purchased with a grant of £590 from Epsom and Ewell Borough Council.
• A further £ 186.98 was spent on necessary equipment and expenses for set-up.
• “Epsom Apples” has been operated by PartnerCHIP, on behalf of Transition Epsom.

Future Developments – Demonstration or Production ?
As we have talked to people at the events, a number of opportunities have become clearer:-

• We frequently claimed that a million apples go to waste in Epsom and Ewell every year – no-one has contradicted this !!! At 10 apples to a kilo, there are about 100 tons of spare apples in the Borough
• More that 40 people donated apples, and we estimate that another 40 people reported that they, or their neighbour, or auntie, had huge amounts of apples which were either rotting or being taken to the tip
• We estimate that 10 tons of apples are readily available - if we had a suitable place to bring them AND the people and more powerful equipment to process them
• People have loved the apple juice – we could have sold much more if we had bottles of it !!! Fifty people enquired about getting a gallon or more of juice for cider making
• Our equipment is ideal for what we are doing …….. demonstrations – it is portable, it looks good, people can get involved and use it themselves safely – everyone has enjoyed and appreciated it.
• But, it is VERY hard work to process even a ton of apples with what we have, and 10 tons would be impossible. We decided that, for juice, we should cut all the bad bits off the fruit, and this is hard work.
• Our juice is cloudy, it is not pasteurised, therefore it will not keep without some health risks.
  

Other Possibilities

• A Cider Club ?? 50 people asked for juice for cider-making, but we were unable to supply them
• an apple tasting day or a competition for Epsom’s best apple.
• Horton Country Park event next year – there are 2 old orchards at Horton with historic apples.
• there are now 4 groups with conservation volunteers in the Borough – this could be better co-ordinated
• Chateau Epsom. See the Urban Wine Company http://www.urbanwineco.com/about.html
• Apples for Schools. We could try to provide an apple every week for every child in Epsom’s schools

Help !!
However, none of these possibilities will be done with the present level of volunteers – we cannot do more than we did this year – any expansion would have to come from more people joining in !!

Conclusions
The apple project has been a great success, and there is enormous potential for further development, however, this may be limited in practice by lack of volunteers