For the Juniors: Picking and processing fresh apples

NARRATOR:

Neville uses his special machine to get up to the really high branches. It's called a cherry picker, because the same machine is also used for picking cherries. No need to wear a picking bag. The cherry picker has its own bin. The cherry picker's full, so the apples are gently emptied into this bin. Now it's off to get the apples ready for market. A quick shower to get them clean. Wax makes them shiny. They're being packed carefully to protect them on their way to the market. The apples are ready to go on the truck, which brings them to the market very early in the morning, when we're still in bed. It's not just an apple market. There are lots of other sorts of fruit for sale here. And vegetables too. Look at all these different types of apples. Fujis. Galas. Bonzas. Granny Smiths. Is your name Jonathan? That's what these apples are called. All these apples have come from orchards from many different places and this is where all the supermarkets and green grocers buy their apples. It's like dodgem cars here. Forklifts move the apples onto trucks and the trucks will take the apples to the shops, where we can buy them.

WOMAN:

Grab some galas for me and I'll get the grannies, OK?

GIRL:

Yep.

NARRATOR:

Some apples come to the apple-juice factory. The apples are going to be washed and crushed into mash. The mash is squeezed into juice and the juice flows out. After it's been quickly heated to kill any germs, the apple juice is ready to be bottled. Labels on first. Into the bottles. Lids on. And packed to go to the shops where we can buy some. The leftover apple mash is not wasted. It's taken to farms, to feed animals like pigs and horses. Apple juice is good to drink, but you can use it to make other things as well. These apples are going to be made into apple-cider vinegar in Claudia's workshop. She's already crushed the apples into a mash. Now she puts these weights on top of the mash and uses this pressing machine to squeeze the juice out. See the juice? This tray is getting full, so Claudia pumps it out to this vat, where the apple juice gets bubbly as it turns into apple cider. Cider is an alcoholic drink made from apples, just like wine is made from grapes. But Claudia doesn't drink the cider, she pumps it into big vats and leaves it here for two years. It looks pretty yucky on top, but underneath, it's slowly turning into apple-cider vinegar. Two years later, the vinegar is ready to be bottled. Apple-cider vinegar is delicious in salad dressings. Look at the difference in these bottles. From freshly crushed apple juice to apple cider and here's apple-cider vinegar.

MUM:

There you go, sweetheart, do you want to grab some apple-cider vinegar?

GIRL:

Yes.

NARRATOR:

You can buy lots of things made from apples at the supermarket.

MUM:

We might grab some apple sauce. I'll make pancakes. Would that be nice?

GIRL:

Yum.

NARRATOR:

You can also buy canned apples. Apple pies. And dried apples. How do you like to eat apples?

BOY1:

I like apple pie.

GIRL:

I like dried apples.

BOY2:

I really like Granny Smiths.

BOY3:

I like to eat them straight off the tree and so does Lucky.

BAT:

That's how I like to eat them too, but I like to eat native fruits and the blossoms on gum trees.

NARRATOR:

Excuse me, Fifi, today we're just talking about apples.

BAT:

I was only trying to help.

NARRATOR:

I know. You can cook apples in different ways too. Stewed apples on breakfast cereals. Cooked in muffins. Cakes. Pies. And pancakes.

BAT:

You can do all that if you like, but I like them straight off the tree and it's night-time - my dinnertime. Yummy!