I should have bought one of these 40 years ago, but (as they say), better late than never. It's an English made Vigo No 2 press; made in Devon.
We found it at our village 'Boot Sale', and it looks unused. Some aspiring cider-maker must have fallen at the final hurdle.
My first operation (after a good cleaning) is to make Verjus. We have tons of green grapes just waiting to be pressed. I'm not quite sure how to preserve Verjus, but no doubt Google will provide the answer.
Cro picks a bucket-full of green grapes, the children crank the handle, and this is the result... our first pressing of Verjus.
It will be left to settle overnight, then used to replace vinegar on our lunchtime salads ( yes, I know what it looks like..... and they had to shoot the horse).
Any other interesting, or otherwise, uses for Verjus would be welcome.
Now I'm going to show my ignorance - I have never heard of Verjus - I guess it means green juice - question is why would you want to put grape juice on your salad?
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you after I've tasted it.
DeleteI bought my husband one of those a couple of years ago - it remains unused. When I bought it he was talking about making cider... hang on, I'd better check the loft, it could be the one!
ReplyDeleteI was going to comment previously (when I also had two Elaines making comments together, that Elaine was always my favourite girl's name. A friend of my sister's was called Elaine, and she used to chase me (I was about 8 at the time), and I fell for her at once. Memories!!!
DeleteWhat a great-looking piece of kit! I wonder if we could puree the Aged One's food in something similar? Ditto Elaine R in re verjus - my edjukation has been sadly lacking.
ReplyDeleteIt takes two to lift it.
DeleteI had not heard of verjus either. No doubt in my mind, you learn something new every day!
ReplyDeleteoddly enough my husband and I were visiting an antique shop yesterday and saw (but haven't bought yet) a tiny ancient fruit press. It needs much more work than yours Cro, but it is adorable! We were gifted with a full size cider press that is lacking the grinder part (essential to actually getting juice out of apples of course) so that will be our big fall investment this year. The word verjus sort of rolls across the tongue...hopefully itself will as well!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of buying one of those electric garden compost making grinders. That SHOULD cope with apples!
DeleteCheck out Maggie Beer Cro...I think she has a cookbook dedicated to using verjus.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean; The Queen of Verjus.
DeleteI love the look of the fruit press. I hadn't heard the term verjus, either. Must've skipped over my school across the Pond.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're a kid, contraptions like that look fun and cool. Then you turn the crank a few times and, well, the fun is over! Oh well, it's good you're making them earn their pool time.
ReplyDeleteGee, and I thought people just stomped on grapes to get the juice out of them. Looks like an interesting contraption, and as long as the grandkids are game to turn the crank, you're free to find some wonderful uses for that nectar.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the kind comment regarding my mother-in-law. I truly appreciate it.
I'll be interested to see what results come from your press. We have been mulling over the idea of getting one for years. Don't you first have to mash the apples? What some people do around here is to take a load of fruit to a local cider maker and later collect a few bottles of his labour.
ReplyDelete