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An apple press is an investment that will yield healthy, homemade apple and other fruit juice for decades if selected with care. The best apple press is one that is easy to use, one you can share with friends, easy to clean, and affordable. Read on for the best apple press! 

This apple press was gifted. All opinions remain my own. 

An apple press is a device that crushes apples in order to release their juice. The juice flows from a spout or opening into your receptacle and then you can refrigerate or can it. An apple press is ideal for people who have a lot of apples and/or want to drink a lot of apple juice. 

As our family ranch has had many apple trees that produce well for years, I’ve always thought we should have a press because we can only eat so much applesauce in a year’s time and lots of apples ended up wasted- even the bears don’t eat them all. 

An apple press came to the top of my interest list as my sister and I both now have kids of our own. Kids love juice, and homemade 100% juice is something I’d like to make for them. 

I started shopping and saw that there’s a lot to choose from. An apple press varies from another in terms of capacity (the one I chose has 5 gallon capacity) and the mechanism in which the apples are crushed/how much person-power will have to be exerted to crush them. 

I chose the Macintosh apple press from Pleasant Hill because 1. It is affordable 2. It came with an all stainless steel model so I wouldn’t have to reseal the iconic wooden slats (sorry, but I’d never do that) 3. It was easy to clean 4. Is easy to use. 

It is very important to note here that the more expensive press available from Pleasant Hill allows for the Maximizer Apple Grinder to be mounted natively in a super-handy way on top of the press. The press that I got is wonderful, and I love it, BUT the Maximizer Apple Grinder does NOT mount natively to the Macintosh Apple Press and I didn’t realize that. This is an important consideration that I discuss fully in this post here, but in short, you want to think about your workspace set up before deciding on which press you want.

I wanted a press that wasn’t giant. I wanted to be able to put in the back of a pickup and take it places if I wanted to crush apples on-site if it made sense to do so. 

I wanted one that was easy to clean. The Macintosh apple press is easy to take apart and put back together. I loved this part of the press- it is lightweight enough even when full of apple pulp to easily pull off the main red frame and go dump in the chicken yard or compost pile. I love too that the bottom tray is separate from the sides, which both are easy to separate and clean.

I wanted a capacity that was on the smaller side because sometimes, you might want to only press a five gallon bucket of apples. I didn’t want to dirty up a huge capacity press if I only had a small amount of apples. 

There are electric presses that are a lot more expensive but I have no shortage of one husband, friends, and family that will help share muscle power in crushing the apples so I didn’t consider getting the more expensive ones for that purpose.

Final Thoughts on The Best Apple Press

Now that I have this press, I see 1. How great a new, high quality press is. This press will last a lifetime. It is easy to clean (how many times can I mention that?!), easy to use, and so effective. 2. I could have perhaps got the bigger, more expensive one so that the Maximizer Apple Grinder mounted natively to the top and the whole set up would have been still easy to clean, heavier, less mobile, but a lot more efficient in a workspace sense. It would have been as handy as a shirt pocket, as they say.

The Macintosh Apple Press is easy to turn- I’m a medium to smallish sized person, and I don’t lift weights or do CrossFit for fun. I have heavy kids that I like to lift up but that’s the extent of my upper body strength training- that and daily yoga. It was easy to press the apple pulp with this press.

The best apple press is one that fits your needs. Consider capacity, how easy it will be to clean and care for, mobility, and price. 

If you’re shopping for an apple press, Pleasant Hill Grain has a great Buying Guide that compares different presses HERE. 

One element you’d expect perhaps would be the yield a press promises to deliver. That’s actually dependent upon getting a separate, but indeed important tool called an apple grinder. I got the Maximizer Apple Grinder, and you can read more about that here. 

Pair the Maximizer Apple Grinder with the Macintosh Apple Press for homemade apple juice- use this recipe! 

Want to make the juice but aren’t sure about canning? Join my Free Canning Basics Course! I’ll share valuable lessons straight in your inbox that will help you get started canning the easiest way! 

Overrun with apples? Read the 3 Easy Apple Recipes for Beginners Post– In is is my applesauce recipe, the apple shrub recipe, and the BEST applesauce muffins!

This post will share why you need an apple grinder for making homemade apple juice. Read on why the maximixer apple grinder will triple or quadruple the juice output when making homemade apple cider or juice! 

This post is not sponsored but the Maximizer Apple Grinder was gifted. All opinions remain my own.  

When I was shopping for an apple press with which I plan to press apple and grape juice, I saw that most presses recommend you get an apple grinder. I thought, “Geez, another thing?!” It turns out you don’t have to have an apple grinder, but you’d be silly to not get one. 

An apple grinder, specifically the Maximizer Apple Grinder which I ultimately chose, triples if not quadruples the juice output. 

That means you get at least three times as much juice by putting the apples through the Maximizer Apple Grinder first! 

Honestly, if it was a 10% increase, I’d probably skip it. But 4x your output?! That’s a HUGE difference! 

The apple grinder makes all your apple growing and/or picking efforts yield so much more juice. If you’re bothering to put them through the press in the first place, it would be a mistake to skip grinding them. 

The Maximizer Apple Grinder basically rough chops the apples so they can be dumped as a pulp into the press and the juice is much more available. Running the press is much easier, too! 

It’s absolutely worth it to get a Maximizer Apple Grinder and I love this specific one because it’s all metal, and easy to use. You can grind the apples into a bucket, or directly into the press- the Maximizer Apple Grinder allows for both. It’s an heirloom quality grinder that my kids can use with their kids. 

The Maximizer Apple Grinder needs to be mounted to a wall (a corner of a building) or to a table with a hole in it. Or, it can be mounted natively to the more expensive apple press.

These things are very important considerations when choosing how to set up your apple pressing station.

What we ended up doing was mounting the Maximizer Apple Grinder to an old sewing machine table that used to have a sewing machine that flipped down and out of sight (the machine is long gone). That table had the hole in the middle for the apple pulp to fall through and was fairly sturdy (it needs to be really sturdy because the Maximizer Apple Grinder is really heavy and grinding it generates a ton of motion).

This was not my idea. My dad is a really handy guy and it was his idea. He’s a rancher and that means he’s great at making something useful out of something that he’s kept around “just in case.”

I won’t be including specific directions for how Dad made this table because I’m not a DIY blogger but he used 2 1×6 scraps for the far side of the Maximizer Apple Grinder to be mounted to.

This sewing machine table was a great work around. It took several hours to decide how we’d do it, and do it (with me doing little more than holding screws and affirming that yes, that would work).

I honestly think that it is worth seriously considering purchasing the more expensive apple press that the Maximizer Apple Grinder mounts to natively because this sewing machine table project was more than I expected in terms of hassle and isn’t without drawback.

The Maximizer Apple Grinder is SO EFFECTIVE (seriously pulping those apples in seconds!) that the pulp doesn’t fall gently from the bottom- the pulp is flung out and in the first run my Dad and I did, we had apple pulp all over the floor of the woodshed because the bucket to collect the pulp was too far below.

This discovery affirmed that mounting the Maximizer Apple Grinder to a wall would have required we mouth some sort of removable bucket directly beneath…and I don’t know what that would have looked like or how we would have done it so it was effective and easy.

Final Thoughts on the Maximizer Apple Grinder

Overall the Maximizer Apple Grinder is a well built (my husband exclaimed, “this is hell for stout!”) and will last a lifetime. It mounts natively to this press https://pleasanthillgrain.com/maximizer-fruit-apple-cider-press-stainless-basket which is not the press I got. It can be mounted to a wall or a table with a hole in it, and either option better be sturdy as all get-out. Getting an apple grinder is not an optional add on if you get an apple press- they are a must! The amount of juice that poured effortlessly from the press because the apples were pulped first was incredible.

My great grandma Nona planted the apple trees I’ll be picking for use with this grinder and press. She wrote to her brother, living out of state, and asked that he send her starts for apple, pear, apricot, plum, raspberry, cherry, and more. Those trees are still growing on the family ranch with very little care from my dad other than water. Pretty amazing, right? 

Pair the Maximizer Apple Grinder with the Macintosh Apple Press for homemade apple juice- use this recipe! 

Want to make the juice but aren’t sure about canning? Join my Free Canning Basics Course! I’ll share valuable lessons straight in your inbox that will help you get started canning the easiest way! 

Overrun with apples? Read the 3 Easy Apple Recipes for Beginners Post– In is is my applesauce recipe, the apple shrub recipe, and the BEST applesauce muffins!

This recipe is for spooky, creepy crawly, black as night gummies made from fruit juice and gut-healing beef gelatin for a Halloween treat that you’ll want to make year round. Read on for the Halloween Gummies recipe and complete tutorial! 

This post contains affiliate links.

Gummies are easy, simple, and fast to make. They are so fun to make, I know you’ll want to hang out in the kitchen with me, watch me make them, and start out on the right foot so your first (and every!) batch is a complete success! I have a fun video mini lesson inside the Free Homemade Gummies Course you can jump into here- join me! You’ll get exclusive gummy recipes and video lessons on how to get perfect gummies no matter what mold you have. And it’s free!

Jump in and watch STEP BY STEP as I make gummies on video. I share in detail exactly HOW to make these nutritional powerhouses. It’s a free mini course and you’ll get access to 3 super helpful videos that show you

the equipment

the ingredients

and the process

of making healthy homemade gummies. Dive in here!

The trick to making these black as sin Halloween Gummies is adding a secret ingredient. Note, you don’t HAVE to add it, but it definitely makes the gummies opaque, and completely black. You can’t taste it and it creates a fantastic effect that’s sure to delight. 

The ingredient that makes these gummies SO black is activated charcoal. 

That’s right. Just a few teaspoons and it turns grape juice (a lovely purple on its own) into a wonderful ebony. 

Note: Enjoying too much activated charcoal can potentially cause some medicines to be absorbed and could render them ineffective. Consult your doctor if you or your child takes medicines that could be affected by activated charcoal. I read this article on Women’s Health for more information on this topic. I think that in moderation for a healthy person who is not taking daily medicine, activated charcoal is fine, but please consult a professional.

Tools You Need For Making Halloween Gummies

You’ll need a saucepan and a whisk (crucial for mixing in the gelatin- you can see how I do it in the Free Homemade Gummies Course) but most importantly, of course, are the Bug Molds. These are made of silicone and can’t believe how well the bugs pop out of them (even the spider legs!).

Pro Tip: You MUST let the gummies cool till they are cold, preferably in the fridge, in order to get the centipede legs and spider legs out without tearing. Press up from the bottom of the mold and press the outside edge of the mold first- the legs on the spider for example- and then the middle of the shape to loosen. They will pop right out!

Halloween Gummies Recipe

You Will Need:

1 cup grape juice

2 teaspoons activated charcoal

3 tablespoons sugar (optional but makes the faint taste of the charcoal completely disappear)

1/4 cup beef gelatin

How to Make Halloween Gummies

Combine the 1 cup grape juice with the charcoal and the sugar in a saucepan.

Whisk over low-medium heat (a 3 on a electric stove that goes to 8, for example).

When the mixture is hot, and nearing a simmer (not quite simmering yet, but getting close, and steam is rising from it) SLOWLY start to whisk in, bit by bit, the 1/4 cup gelatin. Turn the whisk over, reverse direction, and whisk with vigor to discourage lumps. The grape juice mixture will be sweet, fragrant, black, and starting to look thicker. Remove from heat.

Using included droppers from mold set, fill the bug mold.

Pro Tip: Set the mold on a perfectly flat tray (not a plate that has curved edges) to fill.

When the bug mold is filled, place in a very cool place like the fridge until gummies are very firm, likely 30 minutes or so.

If you have extra, you can pour the remaining gummy liquid into a silicone ice cube tray or cupcake mold, or in a glass casserole dish to cool.

OR you can keep it warm on the stove, stirring often, until the first batch of gummies are cooled and removed from the mold. Repeat process.

How to Store Halloween Gummies

These aren’t shelf stable and should be stored in the fridge and if so will keep for months. These are a great thing to make ahead of time and enjoy all October long!

I made these for the first time and didn’t tell my kids. I packed them in their lunch as a fun October surprise. Imagine their faces when they saw black centipedes and spiders in their lunchbox!

This post will teach you how to make your own sourdough starter simply and easily at home. You can use your sourdough starter to make sourdough bread and sourdough pancakes, and you can keep your sourdough starter for years.

This post contains affiliate links.

Sourdough is a fermented food, did you know that? It’s a delicious and easy way to include the health benefits of fermentation into your diet and sourdough starter is the first step to making sourdough bread at home.

Sourdough starter is simple to make and I’ll share my best tips for success.

How to Make Easy Sourdough Starter

2 Cups All Purpose Flour – I’ve been liking the King Arthur White Whole Wheat for the added protein

2 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast – I like this kind because it comes in a glass jar that’s easily recycled and the lid closes really tightly for in between uses!

16 ounces (2 cups) warm water, 70-80 degrees F (Not hot enough to take a bath in, a warm room temperature)

Combine the ingredients in a glass bowl (see note about bowl below). Mixture may be lumpy and that’s ok. Cover with a thin kitchen towel, rubber band in place, and let sit for 2-3 days.

Stir daily and notice the bubbles and fermentation happening as soon as a few hours after combining. Sourdough will smell sour and will have many bubbles, and will more than double in size the first day.

If you notice any pink growth, discard and start over.

Note this bowl is likely the one the starter will live in for years. It will also double (or more!) in size so it must have a capacity of about 8 cups. Also choose a bowl that has a wider surface area rather than a tall and skinny shape. A mason jar is not the best choice; I chose this jar because it has a lid I can use when the starter is resting in the fridge and it is easy to rubber band a cloth around when it’s warming and growing on the counter.

Pro Tips for Successful Sourdough Starter

Use wooden utensils (or plastic) as metal reacts with the starter negatively. Do not use a metal spoon to make this or any easy sourdough starter.

Leave the starter in a warm place on the countertop when it is getting started. A cold countertop will slow or stop yeast growth.

Use a post-it note on the side of your jar or bowl telling you the day you need to return it to the fridge. I had trouble remembering until I started writing “put in fridge on Wednesday” on a note for myself.

To Store Easy Sourdough Starter

Covered in the refrigerator is a great place for the starter. Alternatively, a very cool place will suffice.

To Use Easy Sourdough Starter

Just measure out how much the recipe calls for, cover the jar back up, and return to the fridge. You’ll likely want to replenish the starter, however, as described below.

To Replenish Sourdough Starter After You’ve Used Some In a Recipe

If your recipe for bread or pancakes called for 1 cup of sourdough starter, add 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water to the remaining starter and mix well. The same applies if the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups- replace with equal parts 1 1/2 flour and warm water. Leave sourdough in a warm place for about 6 hours, until mixture is bubbly, and return to refrigerator or other cool place.

You’ll Love My Recipe For Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls