What to Decide on When Purchasing a Fruit Press

Making the decision to buy a fruit press can potentially be a very fun and worthwhile investment, especially if you have access to your own apples or indeed other fruit. It's a great way of using up large quantities of fruit and there's nothing quite like homemade cider, wine or fruit juice! Deciding on which press to go for, however, will be your first hurdle to jump. Here are some things to consider:

Type of Fruit: The type of fruit you intend on pressing will largely determine what press you should go for. If you only plan on pressing soft fruit and in small quantities, then obviously a little press will be perfectly adequate. For producing larger quantities of wine, however, you may want to opt for a press with a larger tub so you can press more grapes at a time. If you're planning on producing cider and thus pressing apples, you'll obviously want a bigger tub, but you may also consider getting a press with an apple grinder attached. Obviously it's important to choose the right press initially as some presses won't be suitable for certain fruit but with that in mind, the easiest option is to go for a cider press as it will be strong enough to press apples as well as softer fruit if you choose to.

Tub Size: As already hinted at, the type of fruit you intend on pressing and the quantity you intend on producing will be the main determining factors of what size tub you get. As you can imagine, if you have a lot of apples to use then it would be worth getting a press with a bigger tub (may be even a double-tub press) and on the flip side, if you only intend on producing a small amount of juice from soft fruit, a small table-top press would be perfectly adequate.

Brand: As with any product, some brands are better than others. The main thing to consider here is that obviously going for a trusted brand with a good reputation will likely serve you well. It also plays true for the most part with fruit presses that you get what you pay for. Of course, you may wish to build your own press if you're that way inclined, but following a good press design and using high quality components will be just as important as going for a good brand.

As you can see, it largely comes down to common sense, but it's certainly worthwhile to give it some thought and not just go for the first press that catches your eye. As mentioned previously, a good option for a lot of people is to go for a sturdy press that can be used for both apples and soft fruit, as that's not the case with all presses. That way you're not just limited to soft fruit. You can get a press with an apple grinder attached or you can always purchase a grinder separately at a later date, should you decide you even want one. Either way, it's nice to be able to experiment with pressing both apples, grapes and other kinds of fruit, or at least have the option of doing so.