Jus de Pommes Naturel...Fresh French Apple Juice

The best tasting apple juice I have ever had I drank two weeks ago at the chestnut festival in Cuneo. A French family squeezed out bottle by bottle. Check out the process:

cutting out worm holes (I guess) from any of the apples

grinding up the applies

putting the applies in the circular form used to press them

preparing the juice press

grinding the juice press

(look at the juice sliding into the bucket!)

pouring the juice 

cleaning up the used apple bits

displaying the product

 

Did you know that the majority of apple juice you find in the supermarket goes through a clarification process? Fresh apple juice actually has a more cloudy appearance - as you can see in my pictures above. The clarification process done to please consumers and give stores a product with a longer shelf life strips the juice of several of its nutritious properties. Cloudy, or natural, juice holds approximately four times the amount of polyphenols (antioxidants) and it is more successful at attacking "free radicals" in our bodies that can cause diseases like cancer. Processed or not, however, studies have shown that those apple nutrients are strong! Research has been done that shows that even processed apple juice helps prevent respiratory and heart disease.

Different varieties of apples can be found all year long. I've always enjoyed going down to Nebraska City with my family to enjoy all the treats the town's large apple orchards have to offer.

I'm going to refer you to a third party for this week's recipe. Check out my friend's blog - she recently included a really great looking apple crisp recipe:  http://ethivore.blogspot.com/2009/10/recipe-whole-wheat-apple-crisp.html.

To make your own freshly-squeezed, unpasteurized apple juice, just cut up a few apples and put them through a food processor! Leave the skin on, it gives you extra nutrients.

BACI