Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t taken Cider Quiz #1, click here to take it before exploring the answers. You will find some related links about apples, blending, and varieties at the bottom. These contain related and interesting information about apples that you may not have known.
Question #7: What are the three main categories of apples based on the Long Ashton Research Station work?
Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) was located near Bristol, England. It was opened in 1903 but was closed in 2003 after a 100 years to research While later in its life the station studied different crops, its main focus originally was to focus on apples. Even more specific, it focused on apples used to make cider. You can still find reference to much of this work on Andrew Lea’s site, The Wittenham Hill. Andrew worked at LARS for many years and while his site is no longer actively maintained, it will contains a wealth of knowledge.
It was at LARS that a categorization of apply types was developed. These types were needed to help identify key characteristics of all the different apple varieties. While hard cider requires sugar, the two main characteristics of an apple are acids and phenolic compounds, tannins. Understanding the acids and tannins contained in a given variety was important in creating cider blends. Very few apples are well balanced enough to create superb single variety ciders. Most need to be blends with other apples to balance the acids and tannins. LARS researchers created method for categorization different apple varieties based on the acids and tannins they found in the juice.
| Apple Type | Tannins (g/l Tannic Acid) | Total Acids (g/l Malic Acid) |
| Sweets | <2 | <4.5 |
| Bitters | >2 | <4.5 |
| Sharps | <2 | >4.5 |
Apples that contained more the 2 grams per liter of tannic acid are called Bitters to account for the high phenolic compounds that create bitterness and astringency. Apples with more than 4.5 grams per liter of malic acid are called Sharps to account for the high level of acidity created by the various acids, usually malic in apples. If an apple was under 2.0 grams per liter of tannic acid and 4.5 grams per liter of malic acid, it is considered a Sweet. This doesn’t mean it has high sugar. It just means that the low tannins and acids will tend to make this apple taste sweet versus bitter or acidic. The names of these three categories give you a basic understanding of any apples. It helps you plan your blending. Sure there is an element of taste and some apples are extremely acidic or phenolic but if you take about 60% Sweets and add 25% Sharps, and 15% Bitters, you will most likely have a reasonably balanced cider or at least a good starting point.
1. Cooking, Eating, Cider: Incorrect Answer – While many people think of apples in this context, it is more arbitrary and not very helpful. Not all cooking apples are Sharps and not all Sweets are good eating. Calling apples by these categories always seems to limit the potential use. You can make great cider using cooking and eating apples.
2. Sharps, Sweets, Bitters: Correct Answer – The good people at LARS created a good categorization process. I would encourage use to continue using it.
3. Red, Yellow, Green: Incorrect Answer – Did you know that most red apples are either yellow or green as the base color. The sun usually converts the skin to red or orange. Using color doesn’t really provide much insight into what type of cider an apple will create. It does let you choose peels to make different colored ciders.
4. Sylvestris, Sieversii, Domestica: Incorrect Answer – If you noticed, these are the genus names for native crab apples, native apples found in Kazakhstan (the origin of our modern apple), and most modern apples. Interesting but not helpful as a cider maker to understanding how an apple variety may contribute to your cider.
Here are some related articles about apples that may help you in creating better cider.
Cider Fundamentals: Blending Common Apples to Make Cider
Many of us struggle to find true Bitters, which are apples that are high in tannins. Some call these cider apples because making cider is often the only good use…
Modern Hard Cider
What is modern hard cider? I think that’s a loaded question. It’s like asking someone what is a traditional hard cider, which will depend on your tradition. If you had…
Tasting Hard Cider: Method or Madness
I’m going to make a bold statement, I think most people don’t really understand how to taste food and drinks. That goes double for hard cider. Sure, you eat something…
Cider: Taste versus Smell
I often talk about taste and smell being the same and, I’m not alone. This is because the flavors or what is often defined as the taste of food and…
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