The credit crunch, if it carries on in this way, will put us all back on the land. As part of the new austerity, I decided to make my own apple juice for a fraction of the price of those nasty waxed cartons in the shops, using apples from my father-in-law's garden. It was also a chance to celebrate national Apple Day on October 21 (see commonground.org.uk/appleday for events in your area).

First impressions of the fruit press were good: 6-litre capacity, smart hardwood basket bound with red steel hoops, and a neat metal base with pouring lip to collect the juice. It's very simple to use: all you have to do is turn the handle, and beech blocks inside the barrel crush the fruit. At £105, it's not cheap but the only downsides are that you ought to screw the feet of the base to something solid and, for apples, you really need to bash them first with a mallet. I did neither (though I did cut up the apples), but it still worked.

Having said that, progress was laboriously slow: barely a drop of juice appeared from the first barrel of fruit. I threw another load of apple slices on top of the pulp, and finally the cloudy stream of pure English apple juice began to flow. To be truthful, it was more a trickle, but it tasted all the better for being mine.

Hero's verdict: Three stars

Clarke heavy-duty fruit press: £105.73 from Machine Mart.

www.machinemart.co.uk

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