Pressing cider in Jericho for two centuries.
The equipment has changed over the years. The recipes haven't.
The original mill
The first Jericho Cider Mill stood on Route 106, about half a mile north of Jericho Turnpike: a three-story wooden barn with a hayloft on top. Its big seller was champagne cider, aged in cellars and tunnels dug into the hillside and bottled with wired corks. Cider found in those cellars was dated 1840.
Prohibition, and a new start
Prohibition shut the old mill down. Jericho farmer John Hicks opened a new one about 1,000 feet south on Route 106, making sweet cider and vinegar until the 1930s. "Farmer" John Zulkofske bought it next.
The mill moves
When Route 106 was widened and straightened, the mill was moved to make room. John's son George took over and brought in a German-made Willmes press that can press 3,000 gallons in ten hours. The mill now turns out more than 60,000 gallons a year.
Mama's pies
George asked his mother to bake a few extra holiday pies to sell in the store. The first five sold out that day, and lines formed outside. The pies are still made from her recipe, in the same kitchen.
The Ketsoglou family
The Ketsoglou family took over the mill. We've added bigger ovens, lattes and dirty sodas, but the recipes will always stay the same.