N

ever tiring of the 
crunchy texture and 
sweet to tart taste, 
Jim Goldstein eats two to 
three apples a day. His favor-
ites change depending on 
the time of year but include 
Golden Russets, Paula Reds 
and Ambrosias. As the owner 
of Hy’s Cider Mill in Romeo, 
he literally enjoys the fruit of 
his labor.
Goldstein is a third-genera-
tion farmer, an occupation not 
particularly common in the 
Jewish community. Although 

he’s helped his father and 
grandfather for as long as he 
can remember, farming became 
his profession in 1976, imme-
diately after his high school 
graduation. 
Hy’s Cider Mill is located on 
an 80-plus acre apple orchard 
in the northernmost part of 
Macomb County, an area 
inhabited by several other cider 
mills and U-pick farms, includ-
ing Westview Orchards, Blake’s 
Cider Mill and others.
Goldstein’s orchard and 
cider mill is nearly an hour 

from the West Bloomfield/ 
Farmington Hills area, and 
approximately 45 minutes from 
Southfield. Still, his cider is 
widely known because it’s sold 
in several high-end grocery 
stores, including Plum Market, 
Westborn Market and Nino 
Salvaggio.

CIDER MILL TOUR
When I pull up to meet 
Goldstein, 63, he is waiting 
on the expansive porch of his 
old-fashioned cider mill. The 
retail part of the building is 

an all-wood exterior structure 
built with the lumber of a pre-
viously existing barn on the 
property. It looks like it would 
fit perfectly on the set of an old 
television Western. Perched 
above the door is the sign, 
“Hy’s Cider Mill Etc” It’s faded 
but still readable after several 
decades of use.
Hy’s is off a dirt road in a 
sparsely populated area. One 
year ago, Joey Roberts of West 
Bloomfield was helping a rab-
binical student scour Macomb 
County for Jewish residents. 
They found Goldstein and 
put him in touch with Rabbi 
Menachem Caytak, who, along 
with his wife, Chana, run the 
Chabad Jewish Center of Troy. 
Now the Goldsteins come to 
some of the Caytaks’ holiday 
events and Shabbat dinners. 
On Aug. 29, the Chabad Jewish 
Center of Troy hosted a Jewish 

continued on page 62
60 | SEPTEMBER 2 • 2021 

ROSH HASHANAH

Hy’s Cider Mill

Get your High Holiday apples from a 
Jewish farmer in Macomb County.

JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

 Hy’s Cider Mill
in Romeo

