Tom Keeper has a traditional peninsula Pig Apple (Afal Mochyn) tree: it overhangs the old sty, so the apples would have fed themselves to the occupants; the roots spread underneath, for perfect recycling of nutrients. A tough tree, a reliable prolific cropper, no doubt very important in a traditional village economy; the only problem is – the fruit tastes AWFUL.
We’d try juicing the apples: he barrowed up a batch. The resulting liquor robust, quite sweet, but undeniably woody; I put a gallon demijohn plus a reserve quantity into the fridge to settle.
It cleared quite well; but after I’d racked off (siphoned) the “good stuff” – now somewhat more palateable – for trial fermentation, all in the name of Science of course, there remained a considerable quantity of gloop. Not wanting to waste so much juicing effort, I decided to try chilled fine filtration…
Next afternoon, there was about a pint of clear juice, the colour of Sauternes and with a gorgeous honeyed flavour: all the woodiness removed with the fibrous material.
So, how to commercialise this serendipitous discovery…?
But, blindfolded, for certain you’d have guzzled it straight from the saucepan.