Those who have a private house or cottage, and in addition - a large apple orchard, sometimes encounter a harvest problem, such that it simply has nowhere to put it. Processing apples is a rather time-consuming process, but it gives a certain moral pleasure. After all, the realization that you are harvesting “living vitamins” for the future will please any of us. We will talk about what are the ways of processing apples - in industrial and domestic conditions, for our own purposes and for sale - in this article. And if you make juices for yourself and your loved ones, use some of our tips.
Apple processing at home
During and after harvest, it must be processed correctly, with the greatest possible return. The most promising options: juice, mashed potatoes, jam or jam, dried fruits. Let's consider each of these methods separately.
Mashed potatoes
Processing applesauce is one of the most effective ways to preserve the product. This can be done using a powerful electric meat grinder (or at worst manual, but then get ready to “pump muscles”). Before processing apples, they must be properly prepared for this process. It is necessary to cut the fruit into four parts and free them from seeds.
The peel can not be removed. But if you want mashed potatoes to be especially tender, then peel the fruit. After you scroll the apples, a pasty mass is obtained. Add sugar to it at the rate if apples are sweet varieties, for one kilogram of mashed potatoes - a pound of sugar. If the apples are sour, add more sugar: eight hundred grams of sugar per kilogram of apples.
Mix everything thoroughly and boil in a large bowl over the smallest fire. Then we roll in pre-sterilized jars.
The juice
Processing apples into juice is carried out in this way. Cutting the fruit into four parts (you can manually, you can use a special cutter) and freeing them from the seeds, we drive them through the juicer. After pressing, we express the juice and bring to a boil in a large container, but do not boil. Remove the foam, filter the juice (some omit this process - they like unfiltered, with a fine suspension of pulp). Pour into sterilized jars, roll up. Set to cool with the lids down, wrapped on top.
If the juice is gone
From one small apple orchard juice is obtained quite a lot. If you are doing it for your own needs, and not for sale, do not worry that the product will ferment or disappear. From the seemingly missing juice, you can make strong spirits, such as apple vodka or calvados. After all, ordinary dry apple wine or cider. Recipes are abundant in cookbooks. Here are just a few of them.
Calvados
Great for preparing this drink are the fruits of the later varieties. Even those that fell to the ground from trees (it is only necessary to cut out rotten places). Further processing of apples is carried out using a food processor. It will quickly turn fruits into a homogeneous mass. Then, three liters of pure spring water and wine yeast (three or four-day) are poured into the dishes for fermentation per kilogram of pulp. The capacity is filled in three quarters of the volume.
Several times a day, the mass must be mixed so that the pulp rises. After three days, drain the liquid, squeeze the pulp. We put the wort for fermentation (be sure to put a water shutter on the bottle). The fermentation process takes about a month. Then carefully drain the liquid so that the sediment formed at the bottom does not fall. The raw materials must be distilled twice and cleaned in several ways.
Organization of juice production
As an idea of a small business, juice production is quite promising and convenient. The technology is simple and does not require large expenses to organize a business. You can build a mini cannery yourself in your private home. Employees are members of your family. And if you still have a large garden at hand, then there is the opportunity to make good money!
Natural product
Here the main criterion is quality. Your trump card is a completely natural product (which is especially appreciated, for example, abroad). No need to use various flavors and preservatives. Your juice must be natural and possess the qualities that are not found in beverages purchased in supermarkets. The whole business should be built on this contrast.
Mini production
Many doctors recommend drinking natural juices daily. They increase immunity and saturate the body with essential vitamins and amino acids. Your advantage is the absence of high costs and investments at the initial stage of development. It is enough to have raw materials (apples themselves in sufficient quantities), simple apple processing equipment: a large, good, powerful food processor and / or semi-industrial juicer, designed to process a large number of fruits.
Still will be needed: containers for cooking juice, cans for its rolling. Roughly speaking, this home-made apple processing line fits in an ordinary summer kitchen - an impromptu production room. Technologies - well-known, popular. If an assistant is needed, one or more family members can be used.
Raw materials
Best if you have your own apple orchard. Then the problem of raw materials is solved very simply. If you just have a plot near a private house, then think about the fact that trees can be planted. Just do not forget that they need to grow before they bear fruit! You can buy raw materials from neighbors, for example (from those that have large orchards), if their own material is not enough. It should also be remembered that one kilogram of apples can produce a maximum of 250 grams of juice. This, by the way, is one of the disadvantages of this business. If you solve the problem and find constant sources of raw materials, then you will always be provided with good profit.
Customers
To implement the project, it is necessary to prepare a client base. Focus on the naturalness of your product. Spend more time advertising and promoting the drink (at least among friends and neighbors at first). The market for your products is bazaars, small grocery outlets, and health food stores. In no case are large chains and supermarkets.
It is also advisable to have a quality certificate and a certificate of sanitary examination, as well as register individual entrepreneurial activity and pay taxes to the state. It is also necessary to think over a growth plan in order to subsequently produce an industrial processing of apples.
Summary
As a business idea, mini-juice production is quite effective. Pros: simple, inexpensive equipment, minimizing costs and investment in organizing production. As a minus, you can consider an insufficient raw material base, but only at first. In general, huge money cannot be earned, but a comfortable life should be enough. Success to all!
