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nafex - [NAFEX] Apple Grinder Seed Issues

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  • From: Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Apple Grinder Seed Issues
  • Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:55 -0400

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



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