Every year, on the first Sunday in October, the Boilard family hops into a caravan of cars and drives to Giles Family Farm in Alfred to pick a bushel of apples. When they get back to their home in Biddeford, they use their family’s traditional cider press to make homemade cider. It isn’t easy, but it’s a family activity they love.

“Traditional presses are quite large,” Brittany Boilard said. “Ours probably goes up to about my chest. It’s heavy and it’s bulky. We only use it once a year, and you have to clean it and maintain it.”

Courtesy photo

Last year, the family started thinking about how they could press apples more often, without the hassle. The answer? Make the press much smaller – small enough to fit onto a kitchen tabletop. That’s how they came up with their Cider Time Press, made of maple hardwood and other Maine-sourced components. The press is just 22 inches tall, weighs 18 pounds, and includes both grinder and press. (Some cider presses sell the grinder separately.)

The small press yields 3 to 4 cups of juice from 12 apples, depending on the size of the apples and the time of year, Boilard said. “We’re kind of excited for the fall, to see how much more juice we’re getting out of them,” she said.

The press sells for $192, which sounds like a lot until you go online and realize that’s actually less than a lot of other presses. Still, why not take those 192 smackers and spend it directly on cider made at your local orchard? Several reasons, Boilard says.

First, she says, “It’s very fresh. Even when you do buy cider from the orchard, it’s not straight out of the apple.”

Homemade cider is naturally gluten-free. And if you’re interested in making hard cider, cider pressed in your own kitchen is unpasteurized. Pasteurization not only kills off natural microbials in the cider, Boilard said, “but you’re also messing with sugars, and the sugars are what ferment.” (Some experts consider unpasteurized cider unsafe, because E.coli and other germs can sometimes contaminate the juice.)

And the most important reason, especially for the Boilard family: “It’s just a fun activity, and we enjoy the end result.”

Yes, we know it’s not apple season, but it will be here before you know it – early apples start appearing in August – so if you’re dreaming of trying your hand at cider-making this fall, this little press may fit your needs. For now, you can buy the cider presses online at the Cider Time Press website, and they will be available in the fall through Stonewall Kitchen.