Åland is Finland’s apple orchard, as much as three out of four apples are grown here. This means both good apples to eat and tasty juice to drink.
Öfvergårds apple grower won a gold medal in the Nordic Artisan Food Awards 2022 with raw pressed juice, Eva-Lotta. According to the judges, the juice “is a tart, alcohol-free and interesting drink that is the perfect accompaniment for meals and festive occasions.” The classic apple juice Zonga won a silver medal, and three weeks later, took gold in the Finnish championship in artisan food.
Öfvergårds orchard presses its juice from first-class apples. Only one apple cultivar is used for each juice. This enhances the characteristic colour, flavour and character of the raw pressed juice. All different varieties of juice can be sampled in the farm shop’s juice bar. To describe and characterise the taste, the apple grower Öfvergårds has also had the help of Vinsmedjan’s sommelier Ella Grüssner Cromwell-Morgan. She describes Zonga juice as ”a white-yellow apple juice with great fruity sweetness and balanced acidity.”
First class apple juice is also available by the orchards Karl-Ers Frukt, Snäckö Frukt and Grannas Äppel. Snäckö, Grannas and Öfvergårds run farm shops. In addition, Öfvergårds offers both apple safaris and picnics in the orchard.
Lemonades and carbonated soft drinks
Peders Aplagård on Kökar refines the orchard’s produce into non-alcoholic lemonades and soft drinks. Also visit Amalia’s Limonadfabrik in Lemland, which produces lemonade flavoured with raspberries, blueberries and black currants, among others. Aplagården and Amalias also have summer cafés and farm shops.
