The Benton Cider Mill

When it is the time of the year for the Bloomsburg Fair and for the drinking of cider at the fair, we always think of Benton Cider! Have you ever wondered how they make it so good? Well, based on information from Dick and Michael Campbell, it isn't easy. They say that the first thing is to make sure that the apples are ripe and clean. The apples used at the fair are not local, but are shipped in from the "south." Local apples, say the Campbells, are just not ripe enough during fair week for the blend they use. Five different varieties of apples are used.

At the fairgrounds, the apples are sent up an elevator and then into an apple washer, then into the grater where they are cut into small pieces. After the apples are ground, they fall onto a nylon cloth. The family goes through 24 to 30 cider cloths each day at the Fair. These cloths strain the apple pulp from the juice. And each night, all of those cloths must be washed. In the Press Enterprise article September 28, 2003, Deb Campbell was quoted as saying she didn't get to bed until 3:30 AM Saturday, and had to return to the stand by 8 AM.

After several cloths of apples are wrapped, the racks of apples are moved over to the hydraulic part of the press. Here 3,500 pounds of pressure are put on the racks. The juice runs into a 40-gallon holding tank under the press. From this tank, it is pumped into a refrigerated tank that holds 400 gallons of cider, and at this point the cider is cooled, and pumped into a 50 gallon stainless tank. The cider then fills the jugging machine and the cider is jugged into containers.

The cider press was bought at the world's fair in 1942, then trucked to Benton, and it has been in operation ever since. Stainless steel liners were added so the cider touches nothing but stainless steel.

If the apples are over-ripe, they get less juice. If the apples are dry they also get less juice. If there is not a lot of sunshine, the cider is less sweet.

Dick Campbell at the Fair stand, with another load of apples being unloaded in the background. At the Bloomsburg Fair, an average of 1,500 bushels of apples are made into apple cider each year.

According to an article in the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise, the Benton Cider Mill produced and sold 4,000 gllons of cider to fair-goers during fair week in 2003 and that is enough cider to fill a 20-by-11-foot in-ground swimming pool.

The Benton Cider Mill was run by Harry Kanouse for 20 years at the Bloomsburg Fair. The Campbell family bought it in 1967 and has been in the same spot ever since. The press is a Palmer Press, with 20-inch racks. It can make up to 16 gallons to one press. It takes up to six bushels of apples for one press. The press was originally run by steam, later by a gasoline engine. When the Campbells bought it, they converted it to electricity. The press is built on a house-trailer frame, 16 feet wide by 16 feet long. The hydraulic part of the press pumps up by a large cylinder, oil pressure pumps up the plate and will put up to 3,500 pounds on the racks. The Campbell racks are made in their wood ship out of white oak or red oak. Oak can take the enormous pressure put on them by the hydraulic pump.

The family operates three mills and all three are still in operation. The mill used at Knobles Covered Bridge Festival is a twin to the one at the Bloomsburg Fair.

The cider mill "back on the farm at the top of Raven Creek" is a much larger press, yielding up to 40 gallons of cider to one press. Michael Campbell runs that operation.

--This article is based on "The Art of Making Cider," published by the Benton Cider Mill

There is a compaion article to this one, also about the Benton Cider Mill, which is located here.