PHOTO By CAROL SHETLER/The Luminary Filling jugs by drawing cider from a vat at Masser Cider Press are (Left to right): Krystna Yarish, Turbotville, with Lela and Luke Turner of Moreland Township. The threesome picked and took apples to the cider mill.

ALLENWOOD – It’s cider pressing time again, and one of the few places operating where individuals can take apples for pressing, is at the Masser Cider Mill on Masser Road, off Route 44 west of Allenwood.

So popular is the facility, there sometimes can be a bit of a wait. The family business dates back to 1925, when Walter Masser purchased equipment and built a building with operations beginning in 1927.

Son David Masser moved the cider mill from the former wooden building to a newly constructed cinder block building. With the aid of his brother Daniel, and recently retired wife Linda, each fall the business becomes a flurry of activity. The brothers operate the press, while Linda provides those with jugs wanting to catch the sweet liquid, before cashing them out.

To this place is where Krystna Yarish of Turbotville, and Leia and Luke Turner of Moreland Township, took crates of apples they had shaken from trees. Empire, Macintosh, Red Delicious, and Wine-sap were the types they picked. “The more varieties, the sweeter the results.” Linda said.

Mrs. Masser gladly explains the operation which is a great education for youngsters. Dumped into a bin, the apples receive a water rinse before an elevator takes them to be chopped. The bits are dumped and spread in a boxed frame wrapped with cloth then squeezed with 60 tons of pressure. The liquid flows into one of two tanks, then on to fill cylinder shaped vats from which the juice is drawn into jugs.

Plummings, the skin, seeds and unused parts of the apples, exit to a separate area which appears much like a granola pancake. “On average, three and one half gallons of cider are extracted per bushel,” Linda said. Yarish and the Turners totaled 15 gallons for the day.

Hours at the press are Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.