Start at the fruit press: almost five tons in a single day

On Saturday the fruit press of the Weilheim fruit and horticultural association was started. 4856 kilograms of apples were delivered on the first day of operation, 3074 liters of juice were taken away.

• The Weilheim fruit press started the press season on Saturday.
• The demand is there: almost five tons of fruit were delivered.
• Because of Cronoa, the process is different this year.

Weilheim - The Weilheimer Obstpresse an der Ammer started operations on Saturday as the last of the large presses in the region (we reported). 55 deliverers came in the course of the morning, each of them brought an average of 87 kilograms of apples, which added up to 4856 kilograms, as Stefan Reisinger read from the computer with which the fruit and horticultural association manages its work.

If you put the pressed juice in relation to the amount of fruit, the result is a yield of 66.3 percent, "a good result", according to Reisinger, who worked the press with two colleagues. But the other third is not waste either. The marc, which was in a large heap in front of the club building on Schützenstraße at noon, is preferred by hunters for winter feeding of game.

In the end, Christian Hackl filled the bags for Christa Ferner with the juice.

© ralf ruder

The association charges its members 20 cents per liter for pressing if they take the juice with them raw. When heated, and thus preserved, you have to pay 35 cents. Non-members pay five cents more each.

The boxes can be reused, the bags have to be bought new, according to Reisinger, as cleaning is not possible. The ten-liter bag costs 1.30 euros, the smaller 1.10 euros and 0.70 euros. “Most of them want the bags with five or ten liters content,” is Reisinger's experience. But there is also demand for the small packs. Christine Larch, who is pressing here for the first time this year, prefers this because “a two-person household does not need large quantities”.

She came from Murnau with only tubs of apples because there is no press there. She has less fruit this year because of the hail damage. "Some of the apples are already rotting on the tree," says Larch, who is nonetheless satisfied with the 15 liters she gets. She wants to process part of it into jelly. Alexander and Bärbel Muschiol came from Peißenberg. This is their third time here because they like the modern press. You brought 360 kilograms of apples with you this year and are expecting 220 liters of juice from the flow production.

Andreas Reisinger at the fruit press in Weilheim.

© ralf ruder

A Weilheimer, who has been a member of the association since his parents registered him as a child, attaches great importance to getting the juice from his own apples. He and his wife have been regular customers for 45 years and this year brought back 350 kilograms of fruit from a “mediocre harvest”, which they fill into large and medium-sized bags. The couple has also made apple cider vinegar, must and jelly from the juice.

In the press this year, "because of Corona, things are going differently than before," said Reisinger. Customers have to wear masks and are no longer allowed to enter the building. In addition, the association wants to build protective walls made of Plexiglas and enable payment by card. In August there is another press on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., and from September onwards also on Fridays from 1.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Other dates are only possible after registration, with a fruit quantity of 100 kilograms or more, self-pressing is possible, so the deliverer can take the juice of his own apples with him.

Registration: If you want to have your own press, you have to register on Tuesdays between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. by calling 0881/927 99 05.