Making use (and juice) of unwanted apples

On Sept. 16, a group of volunteers and congregants of the Unitarian Universalist of the Swannanoa Valley met at the church to make apple juice.

Geoff Stone borrowed an apple press from Earthhaven near Black Mountain. Mary Soyenova gleaned unwanted organic apples from trees around town. The volunteers cleaned and peeled the apples and spent the day pressing them.

They gave out about 12 gallons of apple juice that would otherwise have gone to waste had the apples rotted on the ground. Some of the leftover peelings were given away as compost. The rest was taken to Hickory Nut Farms, which fed them to their pigs. Nothing was wasted, participants said.