Cider Making, Campbell Style
The subject of making cider came up when Nancy Spencer of the Sullivan County Historical Society shared a picture taken two years after the disastrous fire at the Rohr McHenry Distillery. It was a picture taken near the Distillery property and showed a cider mill owned by Harry Knouse. What made the subject interesting was that a cider mill once owned by Harry Knouse still makes the delicious Benton cider--the same cider that many drink at the Bloomsburg Fair or buy after driving to Campbell Road in Fairmount Springs to buy it freshly made.
There is a compaion article to this one, also about the Benton Cider Mill, which is located here.
Some words we'll use won't be understood by some readers. In today's Snooze with the Nooze, we'll introduce you to these terms.
• Flip. A drink which originated in American before 1700 whose chief ingredient--about two-thirds of the container--was beer (although hard cider was sometimes used), then sweetened with sugar, molasses, or dried pumpkin and flavored with a smidgeon of New England rum. A red-hot iron poker was then thrust into the brew to give it a burnt taste. The concoction was then drunk in a drinking-vessel (a measly old glass just wouldn’t do).
"The days are short, the weather's cold,
By tavern fires tales are told.
Some ask for dram when first come in,
Others with flip and bounce begin."• Mother. A stringy slime composed of yeast cells and bacteria that forms on the surface of fermenting liquids and is added to wine or cider to start the production of vinegar. The "mother" is the dark, cloudy substance found in the vinegar formed from naturally occurring pectin and apple residues. It appears as molecules of protein connected in strand-like chains. "Mother" is formed naturally by the bacteria in unpasteurized vinegar.
• Pomace. The solid remains of apples [or other fruit] after pressing for juice.
Cider mills make a certain "creaking sound and that was a familiar sound where farmers had orchards of natural fruit on their property, a sound of late October and November when the sugar content of the apples was high. (Summer and green apples do not contain enough sugar to make quality cider.) On gently sloping-side hills and where land was cheap, farmers set out orchards of young seedlings which produced apples good for cooking and for making cider. The priority for the farmer in the fall a century ago was to house their corn and pumpkins, shelter the last of the garden produce and gather their choice apples to begin the process of making cider.
Some neighborhoods had a cider mill that could be used by anyone. There was a regular charge for using it, but many of the farmers simply left a few barrels of cider to pay for the use of the mill.
Let's see how cider was made the year that John Quincy Adams became President of the United States by virtue of each state being entitled to and casting a single vote. Adams got 13 votes, Jackson got seven and Treasury Secretary Crawford four. The year was 1825.
The Berks and Schuylkill Journal of September 9, 1825, provided directions for making "sweet clear cider."
"It is of importance in making cider," the article noted, "that the mill, the press and all the materials be sweet and clean, and the straw clear from 'must' (mold). To make good cider the fruit should be ripe, (but not rotten) and when the apples are ground, if the juice is left in the pumice twenty-four hours, the cider will be richer, softer and higher colored; if the fruit is all of the same kind, it is generally thought that the cider mill will be better, as the fermentation will certainly be more regular, which is of importance. The gathering and grinding of the apples, and pressing out of the juice, is a mere manual labor, performed with very little skill in the operation; but here the great art of making good cider commences."
The article continued, "For as soon as the juice is pressed out, nature begins to work a wonderful change in it. The juice of fruit, if left to itself, will undergo three distinct fermentations, all of which change the quality and nature of this fluid."
"The first fermentation is the only one the juice of apples should undergo to make good cider. It is this operation that separates the juice from the froth, and leaves it clear, sweet, vinous liquor. To preserve it in this state is the grand secret; this is done by fumigating it with sulfur, which checks any further fermentation, and preserves it in its fine vinous state. It is to be wished that all cider makers would make a trial of this method."
The article recommended that the "juice as it comes from the press be placed in 'open-headed casks' or vats; in this situation it is most likely to undergo a proper fermentation, and the person attending may with correctness ascertain when this fermentation ceases."
"The fermentation is attended with a hissing noise, bubbles rising to the surface and there forming a soft spongy crust over the liquor. When this crust begins to crack, and white froth appears in the cracks level with the surface of the head, the fermentation is about stopping. At this time the liquor is in a fine, genuine, clear state, and must be drawn off immediately into clean casks, and this is the time to fumigate it with sulfur. To do this, take a strip of canvas or rag, about two inches broad and twelve long, dip this into melting solution, and when a few pails of worked cider are put into the cask, set this match on fire and hold it in the cask till it is consumed, then bung the cask and shake it, that the liquor may incorporate with and retain the fumes; after this fill the cask and bung it up."
The 1825 instructions to make cider continued, "The cider should be raked off again the latter part of February or first of March; and if not as clear as you wish it, put in isinglass to fine it, and stir it well; then put the cask in a cool place, where it will not be disturbed, for the fining to settle. Cider prepared this way will keep sweet for years."
An article in the Berks and Schuylkill Journal of November 18, 1826, told about a "distressing accident" in Wilkes-Barre when a Philip Shaver, Dallas Township, "while at work grinding apples at his cider mill, caught his hand in the mill, which mangled the hand and arm in the most dreadful manner. He lingered until the Tuesday following in extreme agony, when death put a period to his sufferings." The article added as an after thought that "Mr.
Shaver was an honest and industrious man." In fact, the village of Shavertown was named in his honor.Cider making was not exactly a safe occupation. Escaping steam in a large volume from a boiler in Samuel Erdman's Cider Mill, at Erdman (on the east side of the Susquehanna, south of Selinsgrove), prompted the owner to tell his men to vamoose the building. The Philadelphia Inquirer of October 18, 1907, told of the men running from the scene when the boiler exploded instantly killing one man, fatally injuring another and injuring three others.
Harry Knouse originally operated his cider mill near the former site of the Rohr McHenry Distilling Company, and later moved to Colley Street in the Borough. As we're often apt to do, we'll first tell you some generalities about the mill and cider mills in general. Harry's cider mill and most cider mills in the local area were in a shed. Historically, cider mills are often open on at least one side.
Cider mills that existed in the generation preceding Harry Knouse’s mill often consisted of two upright wooden cylinders of hard maple, something like three-feet high and eighteen or so inches in diameter. Around the surfaces were wooden cogs, each of which fitted into a slot in the other cylinder. A long sweep was mortised to the top of one of the cylinders. There was a hopper that fed the apples to the cylinders, and a vat below caught the pulp as it came through.
Old Nell, or some similar horse, was hitched to the end of the sweep and as he slowly walked around and around the old cider mill left go with some classic groans and creaks. Crushed apples were the result when the mill was new, but as the mill gathered some age to it the apples usually cracked rather than crushed. Apples, however, were plentiful and the taste of the resultant cider was wonderful, so what matter did it make!
The cider press was as simple as a grinder and about as effective. It consisted of a bed of heavy planks set on a slant with channels to lead the apple juice to the point where it flowed in a huge kettle. In the frame above the bed were two screws made of logs about ten inches in diameter, fitting into a threaded beam above. Heavy planks completed the press.
A pomace (the solid remains of apples or other fruit after pressing for juice) was added to the press, including a layer of straw around the edges of the bed, about like the fringes of a rug. A layer of pomace was shoveled on with a scoop shovel, and the outer ends of the straw were folded inward over the crushed apples. More straw, more pomace, then more straw, more pomace until the whole pile was a yard or so thick, then, as Father used to say, "they put the screws to it." A few twists of the screws and the cider flowed with almost no sediment after it had been barreled.
With today’s equipment, I suspect there would have been much more cider but what the farmers got was good cider. It was kept sweet by adding mustard seed into the barrel. By the same token, it made wonderfully smooth applejack and would down a stout-hearted man before he knew he was in danger. With a bit of "mother" dropped in the barrel it made a cider vinegar that was perfect.
There usually seemed to be apples "a plenty" so when the farmers had filled a dozen or so barrels they called it a day and left the rest of the apples for the next person who came along. A normal ratio of cider to applejack was that one barrel would get mustard seed and the balance would get hard. Farmers didn't sell much hard cider or vinegar back then. The empty barrel was worth just about as much as the barrel and the hard cider or the barrel and the vinegar.
By the time that Harry Knouse started making cider the process had modernized quite a bit. The apples would go into a mill called a grater, usually run by water power or by a steam engine (as in the case with Harry), and would come out in consistency like porridge. This was poured into the press and by the time it took to twist the wrist there was a barrel of apples turned into nearly a barrel of cider.
"Oh we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins, of parsnips, of walnut-tree chips."
--An old song, so old I don't know its originWhen cider was made in a rural setting, there were problems with raccoons and with chickens from time to time. One account recounted a cider maker who killed 13 "coons" after he found them about midnight one night drinking his cider. The mill was enclosed and the tired man simply locked the door securely and went to bed. When he got up the next morning he found "the 'coons' drunk and undergoing all stages of jags." They had rolled the barrels over, which were left open to allow the cider to work. They had drunk themselves full of hard cider.
--A Philadelphia Inquirer article of August 29, 1910The marketing of cider relied on advertising. A typical advertisement was one of October 30, 1918, in the Times Leader.
Sweet Cider
"Sweet cider for sale by the barrel. Order early.
Address Benton Cider Mill, Benton, Pa. Bell Phone 5-26."At the same time, an overworked cider mill in Williamstown (just west of Lykens, between Route 11 and I-81 on the east side of the Susquehanna) struggled with an immense crop of apples. Growers rushed the apples to the local cider mill and converted them into cider. The plant was of a "hydraulic order" and had a capacity of 1,100 barrels a day.
The Philadelphia Inquirer of November 29, 1909, noted that two men were found asleep on the floor of a local grist and cider mill. A policeman heard them snoring as he passed the mill and investigated. He found that the two men were lying in a pool of cider which had poured from a dozen barrels, and were in danger of being drowned because their faces were half submerged. The police placed them under arrest and concluded that the men forgot to replace the bungs in the cider after they had tested it.
I looked up recipes for cider in a family cookbook now more than a hundred years old. The list was astonishing, including Spanish ham, roast ham, and cider served with baked ham. There was a recipe for a leg of lamb basted with cider, fried apples with cider, boiled cider apple sauce, Brown Betty with cider, apple butter, cider jelly and rolled cider for mince pies.
This picture of the Harry Knouse “Screw-Press” Cider Mill was taken in 1913
The picture shown above is courtesy of Nancy Spencer of the Sullivan County Historical Society and was found in a private family album of an elderly Montoursville couple believed related to a lady identified on the back of the photo. The photo is marked "Harry Knouse, uncle of Sara Hampton." Harry and Hazel Knouse were the uncle and aunt of this lady.
In 1913, the mill was just west of the Borough of Benton near the former distillery property of John G. McHenry where the Knouse family lived at that time according to the Federal Census for 1910. Harry was 20 in 1910. A Huber steam tractor provided the power.
The cider press shown above was run by a steam engine. Richard Campbell feels that the 1913 cider mill was an earlier press than the one the Campbells later purchased, which was run by a four-cylinder Wisconsin engine
Harry Knouse and a younger brother operated a saw mill on Distillery Hill. In Harry Knouse’s younger days, he did a lot of logging on Dutch Mountain , Sullivan County, floating the logs down the mountain to the village of Noxen. Each log was marked as to ownership.
Dick Campbell still owns the Knouse log stamp with the letter “K” embedded in it.
Richard and Mike Campbell at the original Benton Cider Mill
at the north end of upper Raven Creek Road.Willis Dietrick brought the large cider mill now owned by Mike Campbell and located in Fairmount Springs at the Benton Cider Mill from the New York World’s Fair. The fiar, held during 1939-40, was on the current site of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The fair was attended by an estimated 44 million people.
The cider press was purchased in 1942 after the World’s Fair ended, then Willis trucked the plant to Benton. It has been in operation ever since. Stainless steel liners were added so the cider touches nothing but stainless steel.Mike Campbell also operates a popular cider press at the Bloomsburg Fair and at Knoebels Grove for the Twin Bridges Festival each fall.
The Benton Cider Mill was run by Harry Knouse for 20 years at the Bloomsburg Fair and Leland Hess also helped run it for some years.
The stand is a favorite stopping place for visitors to the fair.
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. 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 Campbell family bought the "large" cider mill in 1967 and moved it to the upper end of Raven Creek. 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 was mounted 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 Cider Press of the Benton Cider Company in Fairmount Springs
The Campbell racks were made in their wood shop 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 Knoebels Covered Bridge Festival is a twin to the one at the Bloomsburg Fair.
The cider mill at Fairmount Springs is a much larger press, yielding up to 40 gallons of cider to one press.
Besides the Benton Cider Mill at the Bloomsburg Fair, there was a second cider mill which was a popular place for many years. The Stetler cider press was at the south end of the church stand row, then moved to the west end of the fair. The spot was a good place to meet fellow fair-goers, since it was always possible to get a cold drink until all members of a party showed up. When not at the fair, the press was in the rear of the family home at Penn and Fourth Streets, Bloomsburg. If the name "Stetler" sounds familiar, the family operated Columbia Park at Lime Ridge for many years.
Lavina Campbell has fond memories of attending the 1934 World’s Fair where a hydraulic Mount Gilead Cider Press later purchased by Harry Knouse was on display. Earlier cider presses were known as "screw press."
Just about every farm at one time had a cider press which was built by skilled craftsmen called "coopers" who also constructed the casks and barrels in which early families kept their family supplies of corn, pickles, nails, flour and sugar.
If you would like to build your own cider press, you might want to read this article.
Many in the local area know Mary Lou Buckalew. Her father-in-law, Sam Buckalew, ran a big cider mill at one time in Fairmount Springs.
Richard Campbell bought one cider mill out of a warehouse in Nanticoke owned at the time by a lady from Wapwallopen. Tom Shaw and Richard looked at it, but Richard admitted that back then he "didn’t know what a cider press looked like." Richard made her an offer and she agreed to think about the offer. She called Richard later and said that someone had offered her a substantial amount more. Richard felt this was a put-on, so he said that he would compromise and give her less than what she wanted and more than he originally offered. She accepted and he bought a cider mill.
The mill was set it up by Harry Campbell's wood shed and Richard ran it with a Farmall H setting on posts. Richard remembers that he was making $1 an hour and could make $3.50 to make a barrel of cider! That sounded pretty good to Richard. Richard built a building back by Harry Campbell's woods and ran a cider mill there until the time that Harry died and the property was sold. Mike then took over the operation, and has for the past 12 years.
Harry Campbell bought one cider mill from Orchard Supply, in Massachusetts. Dick Campbell described the disposition of the mill. "A guy came in from Doylestown looking for a press and the press was sold for $1,000 and then moved to Doylestown right after the fair." About 25 years later, Richard found out that the mill was in a barn in Doylestown following the heart attack of the man who bought it. Richard called the man's wife and bought it back for exactly the amount that he had sold it. This mill is only used at Knoebels Grove now.
The cider press at the fair stays at the fair in storage when not in use. The 35-year old press is on a house-trailer frame. The press traveled back and forth to the fair when "Ed and Dick" had their restaurant using a ten-day road permit from the state. Now that the fair is a nine-day affair, the press is simply left on the fair grounds.
In response to reader's questions about the Benton Cider Mill...
• Harry and Hazel Knouse lived during their later years on Two and a Half Street in a house later bought by Bill Morris.
• Richard Campbell bought his first cider mill in 1967 from the widow of Leon Wex, and that mill has since been used at the Bloomsburg Fair. Richard bought a big press from Harry Knouse in 1962.There is a compaion article to this one, also about the Benton Cider Mill, which is located here.
