Fresh-Pressed Apple Juice For Full GAPS Recipes

This fresh-pressed apple juice starts with two medium apples and a juicer. Keep the peels on, remove the stems and cores, and collect the liquid separately from the pulp. You end up with plain apple juice to measure into a recipe, with no water, honey, or other fruit mixed in.

The amount of liquid will depend on your apples and juicer. Two apples are the batch size here, not a promise of exactly one cup. If another recipe calls for a cup of fresh juice, measure what you collect before adding it.

Juicing is part of our GAPS kitchen. We use a Ninja juicer for our apple-and-carrot juice, which our family calls the Garfield Drink. This page is for the simpler apple-only preparation, keeping the juice plain so it can go into other recipes.

I find it useful to keep those kitchen jobs separate. Making the juice is one preparation; turning it into a drink, a set dessert, or a cooking liquid is the next recipe. That way, the ginger, gelatin, butter, or other ingredients get measured where they belong.

Where This Fits On GAPS

Freshly pressed fruit and vegetable juices are part of GAPS. This is a plain ingredient preparation for Full GAPS recipes after apple juice has been introduced. It keeps the juice separate from the quantities and other ingredients in the dish you are making.

GAPS uses freshly pressed juice. Starting with apples at home gives you juice without added sugar, concentrate, preservatives, or other ingredients. Choose ripe, fresh apples and process them close to when you need the juice.

The apple-only juice contains no dairy, eggs, or nuts. It can be used in Full GAPS and More-Plant GAPS recipes once apple juice has been introduced.

Measure it into the drink or dish you are making. Milkshakes, teas, and set desserts each have their own additions and proportions. If you are following Intro, keep to your stage’s juice-introduction amounts; the two-apple kitchen batch here is not an Intro serving size.

Stage 4 starts with a few spoonfuls of clear, filtered carrot juice and progresses gradually. Its amounts and dilution are part of the introduction, separate from preparing an ingredient for another recipe. Keep that distinction when moving between Intro juice directions and Full GAPS kitchen preparations.

For juicing introductions and Full GAPS shakes, look for my upcoming Juices & GAPS Milkshakes email course in the WFLI shop. It covers the practical preparation and progression alongside the individual recipes.

Ingredients

• 2 medium ripe apples

Apples: Choose sound, fresh fruit. Leave the peels on for this preparation, and remove the stems and cores before feeding the pieces into the juicer. Cut away the firm core and seeds while keeping as much of the apple flesh as practical.

The apples you choose influence the flavor. A tart apple gives a sharper juice, while a sweeter apple makes a sweeter base. The color can vary as well. Use the sort of apple whose flavor fits the recipe you plan to make.

There is no added water in this batch. That matters when you are preparing juice for another recipe, because a cup of plain juice and a cup of juice diluted with water are different ingredients.

There is also no lemon, ginger, cinnamon, or sweetener added here. Keep the juice plain first. If the next recipe calls for those ingredients, measure them into that recipe instead of seasoning this whole batch in advance.

How To Make Fresh-Pressed Apple Juice

1. Wash two medium ripe apples. Remove the stems and cores, including the seeds, and leave the peels on.
2. Cut the apples into pieces that fit your juicer’s feed chute, following its preparation instructions.
3. Assemble the juicer for juice extraction, with its juice jug and pulp container in place. Run the apple pieces through it according to the machine’s directions, collecting the juice separately from the pulp.
4. Stir the collected juice if it has separated. Measure the amount needed for your recipe and use promptly, or cover and refrigerate briefly until you are ready to use it.

Cut the fruit for the machine you are using. A wide feed chute and a narrow one do not need identical pieces, and forcing oversized chunks into a chute does not help the juicer process them.

You should see liquid collecting in the juice jug and damp apple pulp collecting separately. The pulp is the fibrous mash left after extraction. The juice can still look cloudy or have a little foam at the surface; it does not need to look like a clear bottled juice.

Smell the fresh apple aroma and notice the color before you use it. The exact shade varies with the fruit. The useful distinction is liquid juice in one container and the extracted pulp in the other, rather than a jug of blended whole-apple purée.

Let the machine process the pieces as its guide directs. When the juicing is finished, measure the collected liquid. There is no fixed processing time on the card because setup, feeding, and yield depend on the appliance and fruit.

Clean the juicer according to its manual after you finish. Pulp can remain around the extraction parts, so allow for that cleanup when planning the preparation. Keep the clean juice covered while you move on to the next recipe.

Using And Storing The Juice

Use the freshly collected juice in the amount called for by the recipe you are making. A measuring jug is useful here. Check the liquid line after stirring, and do not assume that the whole output from two apples equals one cup.

If you need more juice, process another batch and measure again. A recipe calling for a cup needs that actual cup of juice, even if the apples you started with were especially small or less juicy.

Give a thick layer of surface foam a moment to settle enough to read the liquid line. Keep the measuring jug level so you can see how much juice is underneath the foam before pouring it into the next recipe.

Make the juice close to when you need it. If you are holding it while preparing the other ingredients, cover the container and refrigerate it. This is a fresh preparation, with no canning, bottling, or long storage process included.

The juice may separate as it sits. Stir before measuring it into the next recipe. Keep any pulp collected by the machine separate from the measured juice; putting the mash back into the jug changes the texture.

For a cold recipe, have the juice ready before you begin its other steps. For a cooked recipe, add the measured juice at the point given in those directions. The next recipe determines whether the juice is heated, chilled, mixed, or set.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Juice Do Two Apples Make?

The volume varies with the size and juiciness of the apples and the machine. This card makes one two-apple batch. Measure the output rather than relying on a fixed cup yield.

Do I Need To Peel The Apples?

No. The peels stay on in this preparation. Wash the apples first, remove their stems and cores, then cut the fruit to fit your juicer’s chute.

Do I Need A Ninja Juicer?

No. We use a Ninja juicer in our kitchen, but this preparation needs a juicer that can extract juice from raw apples and separate the pulp. Follow the assembly and feeding directions for your own model.

Can I Use A Blender?

The method here uses a juicer. A blender keeps the whole fruit together as a purée unless you add a separate straining step, and some blender preparations add water. Keep to the juicer method for this plain extracted juice.

What Changes At 2×?

Use four medium apples for two batches. The amount of juice is still variable. The card doubles the fruit count; it does not promise a precise liquid volume or tell you to change your machine’s settings.

Is This Apple Cider Vinegar?

No. Apple cider vinegar is a fermented vinegar, with a different flavor and role in cooking. This is freshly extracted apple juice, before any fermentation. Some recipes use “apple cider” for unfermented apple juice; here, the ingredient is plain fresh-pressed juice. Do not measure vinegar or alcoholic hard cider in its place.

Recommended Equipment

Use a juicer with its juice-extraction parts assembled according to its manual. We use a Ninja juicer. A knife, cutting board, measuring jug, and covered glass container are useful for preparing the apples and measuring the finished liquid.

Keep the juice jug and pulp container in their proper positions. Use the machine’s own feeding equipment as directed. A different brand or model can have a different chute and filter arrangement, so use the instructions for the appliance in front of you.

Related Recipes

Apple ginger iced tea uses fresh apple juice as part of a separate drink. Add its ginger and other ingredients according to that recipe, after making the plain juice.

Fresh-pressed apple juice jello is another way to use measured juice. It has its own gelatin quantity and setting directions, separate from this extraction step.

Baked apples with raisins and ginger use a measured cup of this juice for their basting liquid. Make the plain juice first, then add the honey in the baked-apple recipe.

More Juices For Your GAPS Kitchen

My upcoming Drinks Cookbook will be in the WFLI shop. It brings together fresh juices and other GAPS drinks, with each preparation kept complete so you can choose the recipe and amount you need.