A Pressing Matter? Clyde Valley Orchard Group Processing

Clyde Valley Orchard Group find a way to re establish the traditional orchards of the area.

The Clyde Valley Orchard group have been funded by CAVLP to help find a way to re establish the traditional orchards of the area. This is the story of how we take the long established fruit crop and turn it into liquid gold!

The Clyde Valley Orchard Group (CVOG) came about around 7 years ago after a survey of the Clyde Valley identified an opportunity for re-establishing and replanting the traditional orchards that were known all over Scotland for their Victoria Plums. New thinking had to be brought to the issues surrounding the decline, and one area that was identified was he processing of the fruit to add value. This started in a very small way with a domestic fruit mulcher and a basket press, which allowed us to produce enough apple juice for our breakfast and to turn into some summer cider. Lovely!

Once we had established the process, over the next few years we acquired more sophisticated equipment that complied with food production standards. This give us a higher capacity mulcher, 50kg capacity press, pumps and bottling equipment. We can now convert over a tonne of fruit into 500 litres of apple juice each season, with further developments in the pipeline.

So, what does this future hold for the Clyde Valley? We have already planted in excess of 300 new trees across 10 different orchards, and there are plans to plant a further 200 this year with the opportunity to expand a community orchard that could accommodate up to 400 new trees. Exciting times!

All this will build a future and expanding amount of Apple Juice and fruit based products that we can use to recreate the Clyde Valley brand. It also has the added benefit of bringing the beauty of blossom back to the Clyde Valley. Watch this space.