Touring Long Meadow Cider Company
[Music] thank you foreign [Music] welcome to this week's episode of trevo travels and I'm in the beautiful townland of kilmoriarty near Porter down in County Armagh I'm here to meet Father and Son team Patton Peter McKeever of the Long Meadow Cider Company and they're going to show me how to make cider so I am as happy as a pig and pass how are you Cuba Paul what's up and this is what it's all about this is what it's all about so what kind of apples we got going on you're kidding Katie we just finished picking these here yesterday eating apples yep okay sweet these are beautiful and you're gonna show me they're fantastic you're going to show me how to transform this box of apples into a bottle of cider yes this I gotta see how we gonna do that we'll tell you what Peter's up in the yard hit them and getting ready we'll put this on the tractor let's jump on the tablet me jump up on there yeah I don't think I'd have a guy well I might start the squashing well we're almost already remember squash anyway perfect get the tractor fantastic foreign [Music] [Laughter] all I need now is a blunt I'll be flying ah thanks a million well in every fodder and some team there must be a sun very good thanks so talk me through we've got the apples we're here what's about to happen well I'll just I'll explain it here first because it is it's Gonna Get Loud first we've got our bin it's into our bin Tipper yeah and it's tipped onto our rack okay on Iraq here we'll sort through the apples take out any bad ones they're not for too many because they're freshly picked right you'll get the odd smaller one of the odd the odds the odd rotten one but they're cleaned and they're sorted they're fed up through our belt here wow to go straight on up through the belt and then pressed into our our hammer head here first okay so what's what's going on in there now the hammer head is it's mulching the apples up okay it's most constantly so it is and then it's dropped down into here and our bottom tray okay so it's not a pulp it's just like a mush basically right so then it's pumped straight into the Apple press okay and you'll get to see it Go Knight wants to turn around obviously but this is our tape belts here the the Press is it's a double belt press so it's pressing the apples into the double belt okay so you'll get your juice at one end and then the upper west goes to the other end so all the juice comes out here and everything that you don't want is out there at the other end yeah and it goes through the filter no it goes straight to cattle chickens pigs actually it's not wasted brilliant local farmers will take it into the wood really yeah yeah I suppose like it's fresh apples now this yolk is going to make a hell of a mountain noise is it oh it is yeah so when we start it up yes foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] absolutely amazing very good let's shut the machine off very cheers you weren't lying about the noise when it's gone but the juice is gorgeous but it's just it's beautiful it is it's loving fresh and it sort of well that's entirely different made in front of your eyes it's fantastic it's amazing isn't it but that ain't cider sure it's not no that's your juice right so what do we do next if you come outside I'll show you what we're doing next for our juice okay can I bring this with me yeah of course so he these are the full caskets that we call her they're ABC cubes right these are cubes that we've pressed out the past couple of days so pretty much what we just saw happen there Yep this is it a pump straight into an ABC Cube I'm gonna fill them up okay and then this goes away to storage on the ferment side for another six to seven weeks right and then after that process but is this natural now is it natural from natural juice yeah okay that's natural juice and then it's fermented out and then we have to wrap it off again so we do okay and then that's another six or seven weeks now what does that mean we're basically we're racking it off we're where this person out of one Cube and it's going into another one okay let's restart the fermentation right is to build up your alcohol level and I saw this okay let's create a nice cider so it is go back to meet your dad we're gonna have a bit of a chat and tell me exactly what he does he'll have a few bottles a cider for me really oh he will surely two cold ones anyway as good as that is I can't wait to try decider thank you Paul thank you I love it absolutely [Music] I said to Peter that a huge part of trevo travels it's about meeting the people behind the product for me that's that's crucial and like I I'm just like in awe of what you have in operation your father and son team family involved and the size of the orchard that you have here and what you're doing is incredible but just tell me bring it back to about 18 months ago when you got into your head that you were going to do the side like where did you come up with this well I took over the home the home Farm business here after my father passed away 22 years ago on like a we started to take on rent the Torches for others later companies but about two years ago Peter he wanted to come home to home Farm one and we said we'd need to maybe try and do something for him and they he just said we'll need a little bit later sort of got the head thinking no and it says right uh crushed in 2013. and we got a butler and have it ready for Christmas and we took it off took off from there we launched it at the Baltimore show and it was a great success there people liked the product after show the film started ringing yeah it threw us in a couple of cases or different places at that stage we had no distributor uh it was Peter and I was going out I ran in the van I love it and we were just kiss here kiss there and I'm doing the test and then doing different shows at the weekends and all on the by the end that year I think we had over 15 000 bottles away wow you know and like so far this year we have a pale energy later with 50 000 bottles away I like you know it's like it's only a year and a half a year and a half yeah 800 bottles give me 800 bottles to 50 to 50 000 bucks [Music] a brilliant day here I've seen literally from the orchard from the Apple getting the lift seeing the Press with you Peter seeing the juice come out which was just the most beautiful apple juice I've ever had in my life part we had a great struggle going through the Orchard and a great chat and what's what I love about it is you've given me a great feel for what you guys do and I'm an orbit I think I think it's absolutely amazing I really do wish the best of luck because it's just fantastic family-run business you guys are working your asses off and and I love it I love that fact and but the moment has come you've got three different types of cider so talk me through them right we have our medium right we have our Oak Aged and we have our Blossom Buster so which would you like to try for you tell me which is the best to go we'll try our medium beautiful so we have this is our medium and we have more Bromley Apple in it yeah so sweet more crisp and more sharper and the brownie Apple we saw that down in the orchard as well yeah wow there's a beautiful color isn't it it's almost like a champagne the way like you wouldn't see that now in any look at the way it's holding the Fizz there don't worry this is this has only just begun we have another two types to go yes you're not gonna get rid of me that easy that's quality that is quality we'll try our Blossom brush next okay okay so explain to me the difference between this one and the medium right our medium with more Bramley Appleton okay uh so our Blossom burst we have pulled back on the Bromley on it we we add more uh sweet Appleton when we're crushing it to ferment and alcohol and that's the Sweet Apple we also saw on the same tree inside yeah so uh with a lot of carry an air Star John gold and this here and different types of Sweet Apple on all the different Orchards we have around the country well I'm not giving you all well I was gonna say I tried to get it out of Peter and there was just there was no chance you know what he gave me he gave me that little tick kind of smile and looked as if to say nothing when you're getting nothing more I tell you what give them well trained you have them well trained you'll see now it's even it's even more uh Goldy yeah and would you say like say eating would you recommend any particular one everyone thinks like you know you're just going out to the pub and have a beer but like The Cider goes great with food yes our medium's gone we've noticed our medium's gone down very well in the bars right during the survey our Blossom bust has gone down very well gone out of the officials in the evenings okay uh for barbecues yeah it's like a small smoother yeah so it is so it's nice in the palette and it goes down well with a meal so it does it's incredible the difference isn't it I like that one you like that one oh geez well I like the first one but I like that one more that's lovely okay this here is our Oak Aged this is the big boy this is the real guy yeah this would be more for a dry person right so see the difference in the car oh wow look at that it's so much darker I'm gonna just show you tonight you set that down you see the difference that's because it was Oak Aged So when you say Oak Aged what's that mean it counts in the casks that are underneath us yes it was put on the cast for over a year for over a year so like I mean when you they say the wine will have picked up some of the flavors or has it has picked up a lot of flavors when you first taste it you'll taste them you'll taste the strongest on the dryness yeah you'll get them you'll get a wee bit of the flavor of maybe what uh whiskey was in it then you'll get you'll taste decider naturally but at the back of your throat everybody's power steering pull the back into it you'll get the smokiness yeah Oak oakness taste smells fantastic that's good it looks that is good oh yeah I like that I said it already I'm just what you're doing is fantastic and like the whole world needs to know about this because it's a premium product you can get it into countries all over the world they just go onto your website or find out your distributor and it's amazing and I can't wish you enough look because like this is what we need to be championing this is what the show is all about is meeting people like Pat and Peter here like you you won't get this anywhere else it's a brilliant product I'm thinking food can I rub a few apples off a few apples I might run a few I might rub a few just like you know for research purposes because coming up after the break guys we're heading off to a beautiful location back in town and I'm gonna be cooking with some of your apples very good with an archaeologist what the hell does an archaeologist know about food we're about to find out don't go anywhere see after the break foreign [Music] welcome back after the break guys and after enjoying that amazing cider down in Longmeadow we're here in the Navan Center in Arma where I'm going to be showing how they used to cook about 2 000 years ago having a great chat with an archaeologist seen some amazing things because this is what trevo travel is all about bringing you to places like this because I want you to see it too so come on in and join me and wait till you see what's coming up [Music] thank you [Music] check this out I'm about to go back in time about 2 000 years into this dwelling to see how they would have cooked back then I'm excited about this come on guys you're gonna love this one foreign [Music] step back in time literally look at the state of me this is what happens when the director takes over the shoot come on let's go check this out Finn how are you doing Paul how are you explain to me I've just seen you throw a hot rock into a pit well I've been doing this actually for the last day for you I've been expecting you I am this is called a full of fear and we fill it up with hot stones and uh and water right behind the hot Stones boil the water I'll show you yeah because I've been doing all the hard work because you've been learning about and you put it in and it boils the water let me do that yeah so basically you've got a fire lighting here we've had a fire going all day and all night and had hate systems and then you keep adding hot stones to it and it boils the water and what we've got wrapped up in some grass-free is a lovely bit of pork beautiful so this is how they would have done it back two thousand years ago this is how we do it now we only do it for special occasions yeah so you're quite an honored guest to get it so just drop it in put it straight in put it straight in and if you listen do you hear it boiling the water my wife would be sticking her toes in there now thinking it's a spa well my wife does the same so I wouldn't worry how long are you talking like about cooking that I mean this obviously takes a long time it takes a long time um well with um stomachs that can last a long time with Hunger so yeah usually we go by when the sun's over there to when it's here we know it's ready but if it's a large piece of meat it takes all night yeah so we sometimes would cook a full uh side of deer in that wow our full sided pork um sheep as well because there's not much meat on them it's an awful lot of fat so we'll boil those in it and then otherwise we'll bathe in it because it's great for their skin task so the meat's inside it's wrapped in grass and it's boiled you did that for me last night so we'll take it out and have a look oh it'd be great to see it this is great so this is it right down here this is just there wrapped in the grass I use my hands so you just wrapped it up in the grass like that just nice yep absolutely this is brilliant and there's a plate for you lovely look look at that wow and the grass to go with it as well I love that extra flavor oh this looks and smells absolutely fantastic now I know that's a method of about two thousand years ago but when you see a little bit of pork or a little bit of bacon all you can think of is cabbage and a parsley sauce we head over there and try and whisk up something sounds good to me I tell you what this is fantastic [Music] so Finn explain to me like this is just like a normal kind of pit it is yeah this is what we normally cook on you'll see the pot above the fire and yeah in and up we'll cook um nettle soups and broths and we even make a porridge wow so yeah we look after so it's pretty good here well this this is my style Trey trevo travels this is what I'm doing cooking on the fire like I don't know maybe I was around 2 000 years ago I think you're living in the wrong age you should be living with me well I tell you what I've done I've just done a very simple um kind of white sauce here so you mix equal quantity so about an ounce of butter an ounce of flour melt it cook out the flour and about half a pint of milk to three quarters of a pint of milk a little bit of mustard salt and pepper and it wouldn't be a parsley sauce unless we threw in a bit of parsley so what goes on here like is there is there tours coming in there is yeah we're we're a very popular place we're open uh throughout the year yeah and in the summertime the dwellings open for tourists so we got people from all over the country and from all over the world let's come to visit us here at Navan because it's such a famous place I tell you what and I'll be very honest with you I'd never heard of this place before and that's why I'm delighted that's why I'm telling you guys this is why you want to be coming to places like this it's in our country never mind heading abroad these are the kind of places we need to be visiting and supporting so a little bit of parsing lovely we just throw it in and do you think they wouldn't have cooked or anything like this but I see like they they were good gardeners back then as well though they would have had other groups as well absolutely they had herbs for both medicine and also for cooking so they weren't frightening the flavor they love salads so they would have picked things like Sorrel and added um different wildflowers like the flowers of the chase I saw these around yeah tied a bit of flavor they would have had the chives as well to add a bit of flavor to the meat I mean they're a big meat eaters so a lot of the diet would have been pork and deer yeah Currys were mostly kept for its milk so they would have had a lot of dairy products as well so there have been a lot of butter and cream butter to their food and porridge as well would have been quite popular as a breakfast dish to keep you going throughout the year yeah and then if you had children you could have sent them to the and around this time to the beehives to get the Holly Wow have you ever tried the flowers of a chive I have they're beautiful aren't they they're really good so that's just basically a little bit of cabbage a little bit of water it doesn't matter if some falls out we use the spoon here and mix it all up and you'd be amazed how easy it is to cook cabbage you saw me just throw in about a half a cup full of water and it's wilting down beautifully like that we're just going to season it well they've had salt and pepper back there oh salt was a massive thing for them yeah I thought it was a big um you would have said a big commodity it would have been a girl's gonna say yeah absolutely you would have traded with it because it would have kept your meat preserved throughout the the winter time yeah Twisted a pepper without have been around then um not so much pepper no pepper wouldn't have really been something that would have been added well I can tell you one thing they definitely wouldn't have had they definitely wouldn't have had a jar of whole grain mustard would they definitely not but that's the thing we're going to mix the old times with the new times so a little bit of that about a teaspoon that's all you need I think you should come to our dwelling more often do you know what this is right up my street I love this kind of stuff so we're not a million miles off it already the Amaze how quick that wilted down our cabbage is nearly done our parsley sauce is perfect and I can't wait to have a look at this bad boy so I put him on my carving board what strikes me is the Simplicity of it I mean these guys were far smarter than anybody gives them credit absolutely everybody thinks they're just at plain meat little flavors you know that would have went out and got different herbs and spices you know horseradish from the hedgerows would have added to it um the chives would have been used as a flavoring so the food wasn't just a plain born food yeah they had really healthy as well they're really good healthy diet so how many people would have been living in a dwelling like this and this dwell in here you would have had up to about 12 people living in it you would have had say grandparents their children and their grandkids living in it wow I'm gonna have to check it is it and it's all kind of done up the way it was as well it's exactly how you would have found it 2 000 years ago everyone's always asking me how long is it going to the oven for into a pit boiling water about 86 Hot Rocks 24 hours and every 17 minutes not 18 and not 16 every 17 minutes throw in another rock absolutely is that good description I think that's a very great lovely stuff hold out that plate there now we're going to spoon on our cabbage look at that nice and easy excuse the fingers but do you know what I bet you nobody said excuse my fingers two thousand years ago so we're happy enough to be fed weren't they yeah it's a lot to be said for it I mean oh parsley sauce right on top of that I tell you what they call it Fusion I call it two thousand year old cooking meets trevo have a look at this guys and we're going to get stuck in [Music] so my director he got his dream and he got to dress trevo up as a 2 000 year old kills but I actually really enjoyed that but I'm going in here now because I'm about to meet an archaeologist who's going to be able to tell me something about I know nothing about and I'm going to go old school because I'm pretty sure they didn't have much of a currency back then or money back then so I'm going bartering cider for knowledge come on in guys [Music] James how are you doing hi Paul I've just had an amazing experience cooking in a fullock fear with Celtic Finn from 2000 years ago I learned how to cook like the Kelsey 2000 years ago it's really interesting that actually that cooking technique did Spike earlier than not into Bronze Age times four thousand years ago and even earlier into Neolithic times did I tell you this guy knows this stuff I have a funny feeling we're going to need a cider for this chat James will you take one I vote this is from just down the road in Longmeadow from past Father and Son team pass and Peter McKeever and I S they showed me how to make this cider and I think you're going to enjoy it so like I'll be honest with you I never really paid attention in school it's launcher and so I know nothing about the era that this is all based on 2000 years ago who's around or like what was going on in this kind of area okay well um in ancient times this area was known as Alan Maha which means the twins of Maha it's named after an ancient Celtic Queen and goddess called Maha and there's many stories about the site and what makes it interesting is the fact that it brings together Irish History Literature archeology and mythology all these things come together at now known as Navan oh so that's where it got its name from tell me something about like kind of like the feasts that they would have gone to are the sacrifices they would have done though that kind of yeah it's uh it's interesting that you were cooking pork earlier on because um in the stories of the Ulster cycle um the Tails relate that many feasts took place on top of our Maha there was a feasting Hall there was the Hall of the Red Branch um and within the the Palace of the feasting Hall um pork would have been served in the stories and one of the tales is um a cold breakfast feast and in this teal a brick crew who was the the Mischief maker of the Tails and he invited all the Nobles and royalty to a feast of his home in Loch brickland it's no lock Brooklyn and Candy down and he said that the heroes portion of a roost Boer would be served to The Greatest Warrior I was telling the guys outside like I literally I had never heard of this place and I can't say enough that like this is a must visit I mean it's so interesting going back like thousands of years seeing what they did you know all the information you've after saying they have it inside in the center so people can say she's like this is all excavated from around here it's fascinating I have to bet like yeah I really enjoy this it's different you only go to find in car keys are yeah I tell you what though how did you find a cider it's lovely was it a good trade your knowledge for oh absolutely the long metal cider no it's great well I tell you what to Pat and Peter McKeever James to yourself and to all the guys here I've had an absolute incredible time in Arma and uh thanks so much really enjoyed that Cheers Cheers [Music] to admit it's a really different episode than normal I mean like I wasn't doing anything mad I wasn't jumping around the place I was but like trevo travels is about you know meeting people meeting characters and and Pat and Peter what they're doing with their cider it's amazing I absolutely love that story and I wish them so well and I hope that we're going to be seeing that product everywhere because it was fantastic come in here to the Navan Center and and seen what went on was amazing cooking with Finn it was brilliant fun absolutely brilliant and sitting inside with James telling me like how it really was two thousand years ago and Beyond it was just it was different but I loved it that's what this show was about I hope that we can bring you to places that you say I want to go visit there you know and like just realize just how amazing this country is we've got brilliant people we've got brilliant facilities we've got amazing places to visit and we need to do that and I hope that you know watching the show like this will make it come to places like this I loved it it was different but come back next week guys because I'm continuing my travels I have no idea where I'm going because I have no idea where I'm going but I can guarantee you one thing it's going to be great fun see you all next week guys on trevo travels [Music] [Music]
2023-08-10 19:39
