Craft Hard Cider: Recipes, Tips, and Ideas for Making & Enjoying Hard Cider
As you relax on your patio enjoying one of your home crafted ciders, have you ever started pondering what really creates it. The taste and ultimately, the quality is determined by the numerous compounds found in your cider. These can include esters, fusel alcohols, acids, and a multitude of others. It’s these compounds that define … Continue reading The Essence of Cider
A Simple Recipe for Making Hard Cider I’m frequently asked for a simple hard cider recipe. I published “My First Cider” recipe several years ago, which was intended to help guide the first time cider maker. However, I recognize that it may not be considered the simplest or easiest recipe. In fact, it’s less recipe … Continue reading Making Simple Cider
America’s history is really a history of the apple and for most of that history, it was not just the apple but cider. Not cider as most American’s would define it today but, cider as its defined in Europe and many other countries around the world. What many Americans now call hard cider, which simply … Continue reading American Cider Apples
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it is spring! That means it’s time to head to the orchard and plant some of my grafted trees. While I don’t own an orchard, I am lucky enough that a couple of the owners allow me to plant trees in their orchards. This gives me a … Continue reading A Day at the Orchard: Spring Planting
Phenolic Compounds of Fuji Apples Fuji is such a common apple that unless you live in the historical cider regions of France, England, or Spain, you will probably be wondering if it makes a good cider. It was developed in Japan in the 1930s and is the offspring of the American Red Delicious and Virginia … Continue reading Apple Phenolics: Fuji
Winesap Phenolic Compounds Winesap is an heirloom apple variety in America and it was the parent of numerous other apples including various Winesap seedlings. Stayman Winesap is an example of a Winesap seedling that is commonly found in the United States. Arkansas Black apples are also thought to be a seedling of Winesap. While originally … Continue reading Apple Phenolics: Winesap
Harrison Apple Phenolic Compounds Since I have been using Harrison apples as my reference for Apple Phenolics, I thought it would be good to provide the details of the Harrison apple. This was an apple lost in American for years. Like so many American apples, especially cider varieties, it fell out of favor along with … Continue reading Apple Phenolics: Harrison
Phenolic compounds found in Red Delicious apples. In this Apple Phenolics we look at the ubiquitous commercial apple that seems to get little love: Red Delicious. When it was discovered and propagated, I’m sure it was a winner. It’s a lovely red color with a fine shape. It a low acid apple that makes it … Continue reading Apple Phenolics: Red Delicious
Have you ever considered growing an apple tree from seed? The first thing to remember is that most apple trees do not reproduce true to type. In other words, if you grow seeds from a Granny Smith apple, you won’t grow a tree that produces Granny Smith apples. It will be a combination of Granny … Continue reading Growing Apples from Seed
Phenolic compounds found in Granny Smith apples. In this Mālus Trivium, I continue Apple Phenolics looking at one of the standard cooking apple the world over: Granny Smith. You may not normally think of Granny Smith apples being a good choice for cider but I would argue that it can make a nice sparkling single … Continue reading Apple Phenolics: Granny Smith
