One cherished thing that we discovered when at our last trip to the Blue Mountains in Winter (what were we thinking? It was truly bone chillingly cold) was the crushed Apple Juice by Logan Brae orchards. Its something of a local favourite apparently and if you could imagine biting into a sweet juicy apple and the juice that runs out of it, you can imagine the juice here. Its so pure, preservative free, almost clear in colour and so deliciously good, we were looking forward to buying up big.
Unfortunately, during our Christmas visit when we rang ahead, the orchard store was only open for one hour on a Sunday as the apples weren't yet harvested and since we weren't here for a Sunday we had to buy it from a fruit store in downtown Katoomba.
The advantage of buying from the orchard store is buying the apples themselves, along with apple jelly and the bottles are of course less expensive at $4 for a 3 litre pale hued bottle. In the store, they are $6.50 a bottle. Nevertheless the juice is such a family favourite that we bought the fruit store out of their entire supply. They were a little shocked to say the least.
Most of these photos are from our trip in July. Its not a slick operation by any means, when we drove up we thought that it was a closed run down shed with a smashed windowed car sitting outside and a white cat wandering curiously outside. But when you venture inside, its an apple scented haven.
Its also the only operating apple orchard with some trees planted as early as 100 years ago. The apple varieties range from Jonathan, Gravenstein, Lady Williams, Delicious and Bonza and harvested by third generation farmer Graham Jackson. We're spoilt now that we've tasted this apple juice and I'm afraid ruined for life ...
Logan Brae Orchards
139 Shipley Road Blackheath
From February to August open 6 days a week Sun-Fri: 9am-4pm (closed Saturdays)
Other times open 11am-12noon Sundays
Tel: +61 (02) 4787 8440
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