Help turn your surplus apples into Bristolian cider!

If you’re in Bristol and have a garden full of surplus apples, then don’t let them go to waste – take them to Riverside Garden Centre so they can be put to good use.

The Southville garden centre is teaming up with small, Gloucestershire family-owned cider maker The Cotswold Fruit Company in a scheme that will see local surplus apples turned into either 100% natural pressed apple juice, or a Bristol blend of cider made only with apples from the city if enough fruit is donated.

In return, anyone who donates fruit will receive their choice of free apple juice or free cider as a thank you, as well as having the satisfaction of knowing that their surplus apples haven’t gone to waste.

The project was successfully trialled last year, with just half a dozen households – including one community orchard – donated nearly half a tonne of surplus apples. This year, the team are aiming to receive double the donations…or maybe even more.

Director of The Cotswold Fruit Company, David Lindgren, says, “Bristol is a city that understands cider, so the idea of using surplus local apples to make Bristolian cider seems right. And this year’s crop appears to be a good one, so there may be a lot of people wondering what to do with their spare apples. If so, we have a solution. The small batches of Bristol juice and cider we made last year were much appreciated, so we’re hoping we can go further this year”.

The minimum apple donation required is 8kg, and fruit is collected weekly from the Riverside Garden Centre, throughout the apple harvest season into late November. To get involved:

• Collect however many 15kg sacks you need from Riverside Garden Centre, as well as address cards
• Pick apples when they are ripe (when the pips are black or dark brown)
• Leave the filled sacks at the garden centre – together with the address cards – on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays
• Your free juice will be ready to collect from the garden centre once the apples have been milled and pressed (within a week or two) – the Bristol blend of cider will be ready next spring.
• Depending on how juicy the apples are, you’ll receive one 750ml bottle of apple juice (or the equivalent volume of cider) for every 8kg of apples you donate
• The team have requested that you donate only good quality fruit – the odd bruise or scab is ok, but no rotten or partly rotten fruit.