How to Make Old-Fashioned Apple Cider

     On Sunday, October 2, 2011, the Steilacoom Historical Museum hosted its annual fall festival, the Apple Squeeze.The city's main streets were closed to accommodate the crowds who come to make apple cider using twelve antique apple presses. Crates and crates of apples were purchased for this event. The Apple Squeeze has become so popular that, for the last few years, the organizers have run out of apples.

    My daughters and I paid $6.75 to make one gallon of apple cider ourselves. We were assigned to Apple Press C. This antique press was built in the 1890's in Portland, Oregon. It once belonged to a Steilacoom resident known as Grandma Teevin. The press has been passed from one generation of the Teevin family to the next. Grandma Teevin's children participated in the early Apple Squeezes. Her grandsonshave been helping people make cider at the Apple Squeeze for 38 years. Twenty years ago, the Teevin family paid to replace the old press's wood to keep it in good condition.

     Someone donated an old apple press to the Boy Scout Troop for Steilacoom and Dupont. For 11 years, Boy Scout Troop #71 has been making cider at the Apple Squeeze for those who can't make their own.

     It is best to combine several varieties of apples when producing cider. Some apples are sweet. Others are not.The flavor and color of cider depends upon the varieties of apples used. Combine several varieties to get a blended taste. The four types of apples used at the Apple Squeeze are Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, Red Delicious and Fuji. After pressing about 20 apples, use a bag to separate the cider from the pulp. Pour the cider into a container, such as a milk carton. To prevent it from fermenting, loosen the cap when you get home. Store the cider in the refrigerator because it is not pasteurized, but it tastes so much better than the juice you buy in stores.

     Steilacoom's first Apple Squeeze was held in 1971 when several residents who owned apple presses decided to get together to make cider. The Apple Squeeze became an organized event circa 1973. In the early days, people brought apples grown in their yards to be pressed. About ten years ago, the health department advised the event's organizers to purchase apples from stores. That way, the health department could trace where the apples came from if people became sick. Because the Apple Squeeze is an outdoor event, the health department requires that the presses be kept under canopies so that birds can't poop on the equipment.
    
      At the fall festival, vendors sold everything from jewelry to candles to apple fritters. Coffee, hot cider and apple pie a la mode were served in Steilacoom Town Hall. Children enjoyed pony rides and the antiques in the Wagon Shop. The petting zoo featured turkeys, llamas, a horse and a seven day old dairy calf.