For Lou Amsler and Richter's Orchards, it was a matter of survival and peace of mind: survival of a lifestyle the family had worked hard to earn, and peace of mind for the consumers of its popular bottled cider product.

A lot of people take the TV News very seriously. Almost immediately following a tragic 1996 outbreak of pathogenic juice poisoning on the west coast, the Amsler's noticed a heightened consumer awareness of the potential hazards associated with raw apple juice. Suddenly, regular customers demanded to know - was Richter's cider safe to drink?

Acquired by Lou Amsler, Sr., in 1936, the Northport, New York business had built up a steady on-farm clientele for its savory fresh blend. The orchards are situated on 21 acres on the northern shore of Long Island, about an hour's drive from New York City. In this once rural area, formerly known for plentiful fruit and vegetable crops, subdivisions are now sprouting up everywhere. "Starting about ten years ago, developers began gobbling up everything," says Lou, who is in partnership with his father and brother. With each year of increasing urban encroachment, the Amsler's have resisted pressure to sell off their land and livelihood.

Hazard labeling has now become a requirement. And that development, the Amsler's feel, would have hurt their business (the pressing season runs from September well into May). Lou Amsler, Jr. has too much pride in his product, and notes that he is in no hurry to join the rat race with its hour-long commutes. Says Lou: "That's all right for some people, but for me, that's no way to live."

Once it became apparent that pasteurization might become mandated, the Amsler's did their homework. "We taste-tested several different products that we knew were processed using commercial pasteurization systems, and found all of them lacking. A kind of 'applesauce' flavor grew in the ciders we tried, and we did not want our cider to be like that," he notes.

Getting started with their Goodnature MFP system was not all that complicated. " It's a neat little unit. All we really had to do was sit down with it," Lou says. " If it diverts, you hear the air come out and if it were to become too warm (which hasn't happened to us) but if the temperature starts creeping up, you only have to be checking on the gauge. Once we get the water up to a certain temperature, then we can switch over to cider. Then it runs steady and trouble-free. It doesn't require a lot of operator attention, only a matter of being nearby. At this point, its running practically automatically. It's less complicated than running a sprayer. It runs itself."

Amsler adds: "This was definitely a best buy, considering the way pricing stands for commercial systems. This particular unit is rated at up to 2 1/2 gallons per minute, which might make some cider makers wonder how it would ever keep up with production demands, especially in the busy fall season." The Amsler's however, wanted it that way.

"If you've only got one tank you need a big machine. But in our case we've got two tanks. Now if you want to look at price differences, take a look at the price of a tank and there's no comparison. An extra tank can take the place of a bigger pasteurizer. So we can have 500 gallons of cider waiting to be pasteurized. And we can do it at any speed we want to."

Customers come in two varieties. "Some people insist that the product should be pasteurized or they will not buy it," he says. "Others resist pasteurization. But what it takes to overcome that is for them to just try it. What we've found from our customer comments gathered at taste trials, is that if they don't know which sample they're drinking, they can't tell the difference between raw and pasteurized. We've found that what little resistance there is has been caused by some over-processed products found in many supermarkets. A lot of people cook it anyway, because they're going to parties, and they don't want to take any chances. But if the juice is prepared properly, there's no problem."

"We're pasteurizing ours at 162 degrees F, just like some of the ciders we originally researched, and which were made on larger capacity systems, but ours has no cooked flavor. Even after two weeks, it tastes like it has just been pressed. We like that. And so do our customers. In fact, pasteurization actually improves juice flavor, especially when you're using stored apples."

The Amsler's appreciate Goodnature's willingness to provide technical support. "They've been fantastic. We asked around before we bought the unit and heard good things about them," Lou says. "Our experience has borne that out, they've been great people to work with."