Viva Brighton Issue #80 October 2019

FEATURE
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Scrumping project
Apple addicts
The Fruit Factory, Brighton Permaculture
Trust’s headquarters in Stanmer Village, is home
to the scrumping project, which turns waste fruit
into raw or pasteurised apple juice, cider, cider
vinegar, chutneys, jams and more. These are
then sold outside the Fruit Factory every Saturday
and Sunday, 11am to 4pm – we recommend
the apple & cherry juice. Viva spoke to BPT’s
Schools Project Manager, and co-ordinator for
the project, Stephan Gehrels.
The scrumping project launched around
eight years ago. We were seeing a lot of fruit
going to waste, whether that’s in farms or
people’s gardens, or here in Stanmer Park, where
there were a couple of orchards not being used
[the scrumping project now maintains three
orchards in the park]. Out of that came the idea
of trying to make good use of all this fruit, and
to turn it into yummy products.
People can come along on a Saturday or
Sunday to drop off their fruit. We can swap it
for a few bottles of juice if they want, but mainly
the idea is that people can bring fruit and see it
go to good use. Sometimes they can see it being
juiced there and then.
Members of the public can come and have
a look, or join in, or throw a few apples in
the mill. We use a cold pressing method, called
a hydro press. Once the juice goes through a
mill, it goes into a container with a giant balloon
in the middle. As that water balloon fills up, it
presses the juice out of the fruit. It’s amazing raw
juice: you can really taste the difference.
When we pasteurise, I also play around with
different flavours: we’ve got a ginger apple
juice, classics like mint, a fiery and a super fiery –
Photos by Sarah Davenport
we have quite a few chilli addicts who come and
get the super fiery. We do a turmeric and black
pepper one, which really changes the taste of
the juice. It almost tastes tropical, like mango or
passionfruit.
Apple Day is our biggest event, at the end of
September every year. At one of our most well
attended events, we sold nearly 2,000 litres of
cider. It’s about showcasing what our project is
trying to do. For thousands of years, people have
celebrated the food around them, so this project
is about trying to bring that back. To minimise
eating food from abroad, and to focus on our
local resources. A huge part of our carbon
footprint is how we get our food, so trying to eat
local is one of the biggest things we can do as
individuals to make a difference.
We are always encouraging and welcoming
volunteers to get involved. Some of the most
popular activities are picking the apples, making
the apple juice, helping with pasteurising. People
can go onto the website for more information.
They then get an email with volunteering
opportunities, such as working on the scrumping
project, planting fruit trees or helping in a local
school. As told to Joe Fuller
brightonpermaculture.org.uk
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