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