North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dennis Norton" <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Those who sell their crops direct to the public have a liability if they do 
not take precautions in the processing of their crops.  Here at Royal Oak 
Farm we process our own cider and our own honey.  We purchase sanitized 
bottles for both.  Then we sanitize them again before filling.  We do not 
pasteurize our honey.  there is no need to.  But we do pasteurize our cider. 
We wash our cider apples in the same washer as our other apples in a Tsunami 
100 solution for 45-60 seconds.  all that is required is 25 seconds.  When 
we use drops for cider, they are washed last and are run through the washer 
twice.  Then we change the water before washing any other apples for that 
are processed for sale.  We do not allow pets to be brought onto out grounds 
nor do we allow outside food to be brought in, since we are a certified food 
service with our county.

Our cider is flash pasteurized to 160 degrees.  Cider pasteurized to 180 or 
above is no longer cider but apple juice, which is the main difference 
between the two.  By the way, organic apples that have been sprayed with 
pyrethrines produce carcinogens when heated to 180 degrees or above.  So 
much for healthy organics.  Because we have school tours and each child gets 
a 1/2 pint of cider as part of the tour, we add 1/10 of 1% potassium sorbate 
to the cider going into those 1/2 pints as an additional precaution.  Since 
1997 when we opened to the public, we have never had an incident with 
someone getting sick from our products.  Oh yes. and we sample each batch of 
cider, date it, and pull it if it has not sold in 14 days.  We use the cider 
we pull in out cider donuts we make since it still has a shelf  life of  at 
least 7 more days.

When serving to the public, every precaution should be taken.  We all work 
too hard for our products to make someone ill with them and lose what we 
have worked so hard for to attorneys!


Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pasteurizing


> Hello,
>
> The difference between pasteurized cider and fresh cider is the difference 
> between apple cider and apple juice.  Heating changes the flavor.
>
> We have always been careful of what apples we pick up and bring to the 
> cider mill.  No animals are allowed in the orchard either.
>
> Yes, there is always a risk for that bad strain of ecoli, but we are more 
> likely to die driving to the post office for the mail.
>
> Do you pick up an apple, rub it on your shirt and eat it?  No difference.
>
> Later,
> Tom
>
>
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