North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>]

Mark & Bruce:

Most of the apple seeds that pass through a kitchen disposal grinder do end 
up in pieces, although some seem to get through whole.  They leave no 
perceptible off taste that anyone has been able to notice here.

The question of cyanide release from the seeds is one I cannot address with 
scientific certainty, since I have no means to measure it.  There is quite a 
bit of commentary available on this issue on the net.  Most seems to suggest 
it would take quite a few pure apple seeds actually ingested to supply a 
dangerous dose of cyanide.  While some cyanide may enter the juice during the 
pressing process, it is my guess that the bulk of it would be discarded with 
the dry pressing residue.  Many commercial juice operations also use 
hammermill type grinders, and some knife grinders, producing a slurry much 
like that produced like the disposal.  Nevertheless, the relative importance 
of this issue is something that each has to decide for himself.  My royalties 
on the disposal grinder will remain the same no matter how many are built.  
Or not.

My press is a homebuilt acme screw type, with a wooden frame around a steel 
inner frame composed of upper and lower U-girders, connected by long, 
threaded steel rods.  The pressing force is borne entirely by the steel inner 
frame.  I am beginning to notice some wear on the nut welded to the top 
girder through which the 1-inch acme screw passes, but this has taken some 
years.  I did not build the press.  It was given to me by a gentleman from 
West Virginia who no longer used it because of his advanced age.  He has 
since passed on.  He was an engineer and knew what he was doing.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA