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1. Carlson Orchards Premium Blend Cider is made from only the freshest apples available-- grown mostly here in New England. We take a special blend of apple varieties and wash them well.

2. After a thorough cleaning, the apples are crushed into a fine juicy mash. Rice hulls are added to the mash to act as a press aid. Press aids help to keep the apple juice flowing under the extreme pressure in the press.

3. The mash is then sprayed into one of 45 porous bags that hang vertically in the press. Each bag is surrounded on each side by a plate and these plates are squeezed together with a maximum of 2000 psi or 2000 pounds per square inch of pressure! That'll get the juice out.

4. All of our cider, once pressed, is pasteurized prior to bottling. We do not manufacture any "raw" cider and are very attentive to the health of our customers and the safety of our products. Our entire operation is governed by a strict HACCP ( Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plan that insures quality and safety at every point in our production cycle.

Pasteurization is just one of many critical points we maintain to insure this level of quality for the consumer. Flash pasteurization brings the juice from a chilly 45 degrees Fahrenheit up to 165 degrees and then back down to an even chillier 38 degrees, all in about a minute and a half!!

5. Once the cider is pasteurized, bottles are prepared with our label -- the sign of quality cider -- and sent along the bottling line to be filled.

6. Pure, fresh pressed apple cider, newly pasteurized and ready for drinking flows freely in our mill into gallon, half-gallon, quart, and pint containers. On a busy Fall day in Harvard, we will bottle upwards of 8000 gallons. Now....that's a lot of cider.

7. The Carlson family has been making fresh apple cider about as long as they've had apples to pick and a press to squeeze them in. Father Carlson started farming in 1936, on a remote hilltop in Harvard. Turned out to be about as perfect a place for growing apples as anyplace on earth. But don't take our word for it -- try it yourself. Take a big sip of our cider and see if you don't feel the crisp cool air of a beautiful Fall day in New England. It goes into every one of our bottles of pure fresh sweet apple cider.

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We love our orchards and know you will too.
We regret that we cannot allow animals into the orchard.
Please visit us soon and remember to eat fruit at least five times daily!

Bring Home the Good Life!

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For information about what crop is available and when, please visit our Growing Schedule.
 

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