Apple cider center an alias briefly for Greenhouse Garden Center

Apple cider, a traditional favorite this time of year, was the fall focus at the Greenhouse Garden Center Saturday.The center, at 2450 S. Curry St., set up an apple slurry maker and an apple press for people with the fruit who were seeking to convert it into cider.“Everybody seems to have more apples at this time of year than they know what to do with,” said Dave Ruf, the center’s owner.So he rented a slurry-maker and press from Reno Home Brew and set them up outside his main building so people could bring in their apples. They did.The event, which went on from noon to 3 p.m., had people lined up a dozen deep shortly after noon. Bud and P.J. Elbrecht of Virginia City were first in line with 36 pounds of apples, so eager for the sweet juice they weren’t even using their own fruit.“I snatched ‘em off my neighbor’s trees yesterday because we’d already processed ours,” said Bud, watching as P.J. waded in to get the slurry and cider process started.Bud said he had agreed to share the bounty with his neighbor.David Zahrt of Carson City, who makes his own apple cider at home, was working the slurry machine with its wide mouth; Ruf handled the cider press nearby. Ruf showed how the press works. It has a bladder inside that expands after you put in the mush-like slurry, combining it with water and pushing the combination through a rounded strainer as the bladder expands. The cider then is captured in a large container and poured into bottles.The cider-making process was the center of attention, but the garden center had a couple of vendors nearby with food wares for people to browse while they waited.The LA Bakery Cafe, which features European and Mediterranean bakery items, set up a table to offer various food items and provide free samples for folks to taste. The bakery, which is located at 220 W. John St., features breakfast and lunch as well as mocha drinks, smoothies and other non-alcoholic beverages. Also on hand at a table filled with apple-oriented meat items was Butler Meats, which is located at 1909 N. Carson St. Items available at the garden center were chicken apple sausage, applewood smoked bacon, apple almond chicken breast, and apple cinnamon pork chops, said Andrew Theiss, son of Butler Meats owner David Theiss.