The Setting

Making Devon Cider the Traditional Way

Photos by John Vickery, Secretary Blackdown Hills Hedge Association.

1. Start with an empty oak trough, plastic bucket and wooden barrel.
2. Use barley straw to line the trough. The wicks allow the juice to flow.
3. Build straw tower, filling the interior with pulverized cider apples.
4. Trim wicks. Must be airtight.
5. Use cider press to slowly crush tower and extract juice.
6. Four hundredweight (cwt) of apples will make 40 gallons of scrumpy.