them apples

[kendyllhillegas]

October is National Apple Month, so here are some apples for your feed. One of my favorite things to paint.💕

[wellthisishappening]

Cider tasting time 🍎🥂 (at Finn River)

[like-them-apples]

Hunting Down the Lost Apples of the Pacific Northwest - The New York Times

STEPTOE, Wash. — David Benscoter honed his craft as an investigator for the F.B.I. and the United States Treasury, cornering corrupt politicians and tax evaders. The lost apple trees that he hunts down now are really not so different. People and things, he said, tend to hide in plain sight if you know how and where to look.

“It’s like a crime scene,” Mr. Benscoter, 62, said as he hiked down a slope toward a long-abandoned apple orchard planted in the late 1800s. “You have to establish that the trees existed, and hope that there’s a paper trail to follow.”

About two-thirds of the $4 billion apple industry is now concentrated in Washington State — and 15 varieties, led by the Red Delicious, account for about 90 percent of the market. But the past looked, and tasted, much different: An estimated 17,000 varieties were grown in North America over the centuries, and about 13,000 are lost.

From New England through the Midwest and the South to Colorado and Washington, where small family farms were long anchored by an orchard, most apple trees died along with the farms around them as industrial-scale agriculture conquered American life a century ago.

But some trees persisted. They faded into woods, or were absorbed by parks or other public lands. And the hundreds of varieties that have been found in recent years are stunning in their diversity and the window they open into the tastes and habits of the past.

Mother apples, for example, were good for making dessert. If you wanted less juice, you went for a Limber Twig. Aesthetic perfection and pretty names were once unimportant. The Rambo apple was described in one old guidebook as “speckled, with large rough dots.”

Apples are where food meets history, hunters say, and a community has risen up around the pursuit of them. Mr. Benscoter fell into it after retirement here in eastern Washington when a friend with a disability asked him to pick apples from an old orchard behind her house, and no one could identify what they were. John Bunker, an apple hunter in Maine, became entranced by the old trees he found growing in the woods. Lee Calhoun, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, started hunting in North Carolina and began to see old apples as a remnant of faded Southern life.

Now, some old varieties have become available again, through small specialty nurseries like the co-op that Mr. Bunker helped start in Maine and through university agricultural programs. Commercial growers, however, said old apples had faded for a reason and were probably not coming back.

“They’re hard to grow,” said Mac Riggan, the director of marketing at Chelan Fresh, which has 26,000 acres of fruit trees, mostly apples, in central Washington.

Old varieties, Mr. Riggan said, either bruise easily, don’t store well or don’t produce enough apples per tree. And economic pressure is relentless. “Land costs money,” he said.

Mr. Benscoter said that because of his investigative background, and because apple growing had come much later to this corner of the West, his methods were different from those of hunters in older parts of the nation.

Often, he said, library archives or county records show what was grown and available, which helps him identify old trees. A woman recently sent him a catalog from 1912 she had found in her attic. It listed more than 140 apple varieties then available in Washington. Documents from county fairs — what apples were offered for judging and won the blue ribbon — have provided another critical piece of evidence.

Most apple varieties, produced by chance intermingling of pollen from neighboring trees on family farms, cannot be definitively identified by DNA, so the history is important. Plant scientists said old varieties might have something to teach as well about evolution or climate, in looking at the qualities that kept a particular tree going despite the odds.

“That’s my scientific curiosity: How did this plant do it? How did it survive when others died?” said Amit Dhingra, an associate professor of horticulture at Washington State University who works with Mr. Benscoter and the Whitman County Historical Society on the Lost and Heritage Apples of the Palouse project.

The bittersweet element in apple-tree hunting is that failure often plays a big role.

Consider, for example, the story of Robert Burns. He was a young farmer who came to southeast Washington State in 1888, according to the county records Mr. Benscoter found.

Burns was in his early 20s, and he first tried wheat, but the torrential rains of 1893 destroyed the crops. He then turned his hand to growing fruit but, in his inexperience, planted mostly apple varieties that ripen in summer and fall. It turned out to be a disastrous choice.

By the mid-1890s, the railroads were changing everything, and winter apples had seized the market because they could better withstand shipment to markets back East. The dream of a Burns orchard stumbled and fell, and by 1899 he was bankrupt.

But he planted at least one Dickinson apple tree that survived, and a Nero tree, too — both believed lost until Mr. Benscoter rediscovered them.

Debbie Druffel and her husband, Roy, wheat farmers in nearby Pullman, are now growing tiny grafted shoots of Dickinson and Nero in their garage. They became fascinated by apples when they found an abandoned orchard bordering one of their fields, and they now hope to grow an entire orchard of the lost and found behind the house.

“If Dave keeps finding stuff, we’ll keep planting it,” Ms. Druffel said.

But on bigger farms, new varieties, not old ones, have the money and momentum, like the Cosmic Crisp, developed here in Washington and recently planted on a commercial scale. Dr. Dhingra’s lab is also trying to reduce the time — from years down to months — needed to bring old and new apple varieties from shoot to fruit. The technique uses a special nutrient system for multiplying young plants in a soil-free process.

On a recent morning at Steptoe Butte State Park, where Mr. Benscoter has focused his work, about a five-hour drive from Seattle, he hiked toward an Arkansas Beauty apple tree, perhaps the only one on the planet currently bearing fruit. The tree’s identity was confirmed this year after testing and tasting by scientists and food historians.

Finally, the tree came into view, standing alone in a clearing that overlooked rolling hills of wheat. It was about 12 feet tall and twisted with age. Mr. Benscoter hoisted up the chain saw he had carried out from his truck and pruned off some small branches, which will stimulate the tree to grow new shoots that can be grafted next year onto other trees. And so another relic from America’s past will live on.

He said he often wondered what the old farmers would think about his work, and about the trees that they pushed into the soil and toiled over before walking away in defeat.

“I think they would be glad that something they planted survived,” he said.

[bookofoctober-deactivated201908]

Photo by by Alena Haurylik

[cidersnob]

Studies of the trunk, blossoms and fruit of a wild apple tree (Malus sylvestris), Ludwig Pfleger, 1788.  via metmuseum.org

[bookofoctober-deactivated201908]

Baked Apples with Ginger

Ingredients: • packed light brown sugar • toasted pecans or walnuts • dried cranberries or diced dates • diced candied ginger • melted butter, salted or unsalted, • flour • ground cinnamon • fresh ginger • grated zest of lemon • salt • egg yolks • white wine, apple juice or cider, or water • apples

Full recipe instructions here

[margueriteaimee-deactivated2019]

Red delicious apples being named ‘delicious’ is one of the biggest deceptions of the human race.

[sapphicphoenix]

Omg I hit the reblog button so fast

[outrunmyself]

i feel this on a spiritual level.

[generalwow]

They were, at one time, delicious, but some fuck-up, let’s call him George, came along.

George decided the red delicious apples weren’t “red” enough, so he started to breed them so they became more red; however, as he did that, the delicious flavor was also bred out, but everyone thought they were better because they had a more consistent color.

They used to be delicious but not red, and now they are red but not delicious.

[margueriteaimee-deactivated2019]

🤔🤔 I had a feeling they used to taste a lot better than they do now. Stupid humans screwing with everything

[ibilateral-deactivated20210928]

Why is my name always used for bad shit :(

But seriously, just eat Red Gala apples

[cloudfreed]

or Pink Ladies

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Ew. Eat honeycrisps. Love yourselves.

[damnitrj]

Fuck that Granny Smiths are where it’s at.

[bitter-bender]

Granny Smiths are a crock of shit

[lady-writes]

YOU COME IN TO MY HOUSE AND YOU INSULT PIEMAKING APPLES. WITHOUT GRANNY SMITH YOU WOULD HAVE NOTHING HOW DARE

[10102020303040405050-deactivate]

fuji apples tho

[i-aint-even-bovvered]

Granny Smiths are good for pies and nothing else. I like the classic macintosh to eat, but if I can get winecrisp I am golden (delicious)

[hashtagloveloses]

PINK LADY OWNS MY ASS

[live-and-let-bi]

You haven’t had apples till you’ve had ambrosia apples

[cryptiddies]

All of y'all can eat my ass. Granny Smiths are the best and have the perfect amount of tang. Macintosh aren’t as good a substitute.

[notcaycepollard]

BRAEBURN OR NOTHING

[sixth-light]

Royal Gala or go home

[asten]

HONESTLY IF YOURE HATIN ON GRANNY SMITHS YOU CAN UNFOLLOW ME RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY

[sabertoothwalrus]

One time I ate a Pink Lady at peak apple season and I almost cried

[punsbulletsandpointythings]

Sunrise apples are out right now, and I am a happy Puns. Also Akane apples are wonderful for eating, and early Transparent apples are AMAZING for cooking with.

I’ve also heard people who swear by Gravenstein apples.

[mhalachai]

unrest in the apple fandom

[perclexed]

But will they brick with the latest update?

[like-them-apples]

I love Ashmead’s Kernel and Roxbury Russet for eating. Also Macouns (but can’t find them now I’m on the west coast). 

Everyone else can have those honeycrisps, don’t want em.

[like-them-apples]

Hard cider fizzled with prohibition, then reappeared for a “blip” in the 1990s before losing steam again. Angry Orchard, perhaps America’s best-known offering, launched in 2012, and its cider caught fire. Now, the experiments are seemingly endless.

Even with a company only three years old, Colin Schilling counted himself among the old-timers among some 60 vendors at the “Northwest Cider Summit” this weekend in Portland, Ore. His family has for more than a century been in the spice business—A. Schilling & Company merged with McCormick & Company in 1946 but kept producing spices under the family name throughout the remainder of the century.

On the side, though, Schilling and his parents and grandparents have been making hard cider since the 1970s, in Washington State. And a few years ago, Schilling decided to move into the rapidly expanding craft cider industry.

Jennie Dorsey, regional manager of Seattle-based Schilling Hard Cider, pours a coffee-flavored offering at the Northwest Cider Summit Friday. Craft cider brewing has exploded in the past few years.WINSTON ROSS FOR NEWSWEEK

“I knew I wanted to start my own company,” he told Newsweek. “I made my first batch at 14. When cider started to pick up, my basement was covered in cider bottles.”

Cider isn’t just “picking up,” it’s booming. Schilling’s company now sells its offerings in 23 states, and any decent grocer now carries a dozen or more choices. Cider sales tripled between 2011 and 2013, and the number of new players and options have exploded. Schilling had a coffee-flavored “nitro” cider on tap this weekend, along with another flavored with lemongrass and agave. At other booths, cider makers offered hop-steeped creations, cider aged in rye barrels, and fruit infusions.

“We haven’t even seen yet all the different variations that are possible,” Justin Skinnell, vice president of operations at Apple Outlaw, an Oregon cider maker founded in 2013. “It’s booming.”

Hard cider fizzled with prohibition, then reappeared for a “blip” in the 1990s before losing steam again. Angry Orchard, perhaps America’s best-known offering, launched in 2012, and its cider caught fire. Now, the experiments are seemingly endless.

“Angry Orchard definitely built the industry for us,” Schilling said. “But now the craft guys are coming in and taking that market share.”

One of the earliest craft cider makers in the Pacific Northwest is “Reverend” Nat West, whose slogan is “The Apple’s Deepest Purpose Realized.” He means that. “You’re an apple on a tree. What do you want to be when you grow up?” he said. “Applesauce? In a kid’s lunchbox, that gets thrown away? Or would you rather be in a cider?”

The challenge now is how to figure what the customer wants next. “It’s changing so far,” West toldNewsweek. “There are people who would consider what we do against the rules, travesties. But the market is definitely getting heavier and more saturated,” which means cider makers are going to have to be creative to stand out.

Cider is growing as a category of craft brewing, says Alan Shapiro, a cider maker who helped organize the summit, which began in Seattle in 2010. Back then, there were only a handful of cider companies in the region. Now, there are dozens. “It’s getting crowded,” Shapiro says, “but cider as a category is still only about 1 percent of the total beer volume sold in America. In England, it’s more like 14 percent.”

[mossofthewoodsjewelry]

The flowering season for so many of the tree blossoms was so short this year; I got to the meadow and found most of the trees already done blooming. This little baby apple tree was the only one left and I made sure to make the most of it.

[dailyplantfacts]

While the fruit of crabapple trees are technically edible, they are generally considered too tart, too small, or having an undesirable textureApples belong to the genus Malus in the family Rosaceae. All of the apples you can commonly find in the supermarket are derived from the species M. domestica. All other species of apple not bred for consumption are known as crabapples. While apples are of most economic importance for their fruit, the crabapple species are widely grown as ornamental trees around the world. Pictured here is the species Malus x purpurea, a hybrid that is grown for its lush blooms of pink to purple flowers in the early spring.

[cidersnob]

http://www.thepressedconference.com

Denver, May 28.

[like-them-apples]

A Conversation with Original Sin’s Gidon Coll on the Evolution of Hard Cider  — Cider Culture

Five minutes with founder and president Gidon Coll, and you’ll know why this man is the brainchild behind that delicious, crisp, dry-apple taste of Original Sin Craft Cider.

Gidon began his cider creation in 1996, when cider was fairly new to the bar scene, with only a few nationally available ciders for purchase. He wanted to create something that wasn’t too sweet and that appealed to pub-goers. He spent half the year creating and testing batches of cider before launching Original Sin (OS) cider onto Manhattan’s cider scene.

“We were bootstrapped from the start. I had no experience in the industry and with little funds, obtaining market traction was challenging,” Gidon said. He realized his greatest asset was his ability to “beat the streets.” Day after day, he pounded the pavement, creating cider and bringing samples to NYC bars, restaurants and gourmet markets while making contacts and forging new partnerships. “Over the course of several months OS cider developed a loyal following in establishments throughout downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn,” he continued.

Despite only being available in New York from 1996–2002, OS cider received numerous media accolades, which helped OS cider awareness, including being ranked the “Top American Cider” in 2003 through a blind taste-test by the New York Times. Today, OS is available in 32 states, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong and St. Maarten. “The cider industry in the 1990s was nothing like it is today. In the early days, not only did you have to sell establishments on your product, but oftentimes you had to convince proprietors that there was a need for a cider on the menu,” Gidon explained. “It wasn’t uncommon to walk into a New York City bar and have to describe to a bartender or owner what hard cider was.”

Times sure have changed within the cider industry. “It seems surreal to me that today almost every U.S. state can lay claim to its own local cidery, that cider pubs are opening throughout the country and that attendance at the U.S. cider conference [CiderCON] has grown exponentially,” Gidon added.

OS cider has just launched an Extra Dry Cider made only with New York apples. New York State boosts the most diverse selection of apples in the country. Many of these apples were once commonly used in hard cider production. The new OS Extra Dry Cider is complex with a nice level of acidity and tannins. The orchard in upstate New York on the family’s old dairy farm lends itself to crisp, appealing apples for amazing cider. “It was thought that our portion of the Hudson Valley, New York, was too cold for growing apples, but as of now our plantings have done well, “ said Gidon. “The soil on our land has the ideal pH and is high in calcium. Both of these qualities have helped nurture our success. Planting and maintaining the test orchard, which is made up of 120 varieties of apples with just over 200 dwarf, semi-dwarf and semi-standard trees, has been an exhilarating experience. I have learned that maintaining a successful orchard is truly a science and must be approached as such.”

“There is so much to understand about rootstock and apple cultivator selection, site selection, soil nutritional management, pruning systems and pest and disease control. We are currently growing 120 apple varieties—each apple variety with its own merit. While we grow apples whose primary value is for hard cider production, we also concentrate on dual-purpose apples, varieties which can be used for cider and for fresh eating. We grow at least 20 apple varieties, which in my opinion taste better than any commonly available U.S. variety. We also started a small apple breeding program this year.”

Now, to showcase OS cider and maintain relationships and seek new ones, Gidon and his cider crew travel to various cider events to taste and try and let people know of the amazing taste of OS cider. “I have attended numerous cider-oriented events through the years. These events have played a critical role in shaping my views,” Gidon stated. “I highly recommend that cider and apple enthusiasts attend Cider Days, CiderCON, Cider Summit and Pour to the Core, and I just returned from my first Glintcap in Grand Rapids, Michigan.”

Fresh, crisp and gluten free—you can’t go wrong with this tasty cider. With varieties such as Pear, Extra Dry, Apricot, Elderberry and original hard cider, any cider lover is in for a treat.

[like-them-apples]

GrumpyBear by Schilling Cider is a  cold brew coffee nitro cider being released in a Nitro Can

[like-them-apples]

 Beneath An Ugly Outside, Marred Fruit May Pack More Nutrition : NPR

When orchardist Eliza Greenman walks through a field of apple trees and gazes upon a pocked array of blemished and buckled fruits — scarred from fighting fungus, heat and pests — she feels a little thrill of joy. "I'm absolutely infatuated with the idea of stress in an orchard," says Greenman, who custom grafts and grows pesticide-free hard cider apples in Hamilton, Va. These forlorn, scabbed apples, says Greenman, may actually be sweeter.

In an unofficial experiment, Greenman tested scabbed and unscabbed Parma apples, a high-sugar variety native to southwestern Virginia, and found the scarred apples had a 2 to 5 percent higher sugar content than unmarred apples from the same tree. More sugar means a higher alcohol content once fermented, producing a tastier hard cider.

But she loves these ugly apples for another reason: They may be more nutritious and have a higher antioxidant content. Says Greenman: "I believe stress can help create a super fruit."

Ugly fruits and vegetables are today's pocked and scaly, dimpled, misshapen darlings — and there is a growing movement to sell such produce, not dump it into municipal landfills. As The Salt has reported, we toss out enough food to fill 44 skyscrapers each year. Why waste perfectly good food? This April a handful of Whole Foods stores in California will sell the cosmetically marred but nutritious produce for the first time.

But does some blemished produce pack an unexpected nutritional punch — courtesy of its own battles to survive?

We already suspect this is the case with organic fruits and vegetables. A 2014 review of 343 studies found that organic produce had lower pesticide residue and a 20 to 40 percent higher antioxidant content than conventional produce. Those antioxidants include compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, anthocyanins and carotenoids, all produced by plants as defense mechanisms when they are stressed by pests. The study authors suggested that organic crops may be subject to more stress because they may receive fewer pesticides, in lower doses, and with less potent killing effects.

Another study of both conventional and organic apple varieties found higher antioxidant phenols and fruit acids in organic apples. The study authors noted, "The regular consumption of fruit acids is helpful in preventing illness and metabolic disorders. We recommend the consumption of regional organically grown varieties rather than of cultivars from integrated cultivation."

Ugly fruits actually bear the visible scars of their successful battles — dimpled or scarred where they fought off a biting or gnawing insect or surface infection. Greenman's ideal is a truly wild apple, one left to its own defenses in nature — with the cosmetic imperfections to prove it. Though not all pests and diseases are benign, she notes, a few common apple infestations are the result of harmless fungi that result in sooty "blotch" (dark patches) and fly speck (black dots), but do not harm taste or texture nor infect humans. These blotches are a result of the plant fighting off environmental insults — relying on its antioxidant defenses to do so. Greenman suspects those unsightly scars may reflect higher nutrition.

She may be right. One study showed that an apple covered in scab has more healthy, antioxidant phenolic compounds, called phenylpropanoids, than a scab-free apple peel. Another study showed that apple leaves infected with scab have 10 to 20 percent more phenolic compounds. Similar research has found high levels of resveratrol in grape leavesinfected with fungi or simply exposed to the stress of ultraviolet light. A study of Japanese knotweed, a plant with a long tradition of use in Chinese and Japanese herbal medicine, found that infection with common fungi boosted its resveratrol content as well. Resveratrol is an antioxidant that's been well-studied for its potential cardio-protective action. All these antioxidants protect both plants, and probably the humans who eat them.

This does not mean that we should turn away from conventional agriculture, or make hard and fast assumptions about crops, says environmental biologistBrian Ward, of Clemson University. "There are so many factors contributing to antioxidant content," says Ward, who oversees research in both conventional and organic agriculture. "The most important factor is the plant itself — and the variety. That's genetic. Then there is the soil, its mineral content, and whether conventional or organic fertilizer is used. But yes, there is some interesting data that when plants are stressed by insects or disease, they produce metabolites that are good for us."

Greenman's insight intrigues microbiologist Martin L. Pall, professor emeritus at Washington State University. Pall says that our own innate, potent protective mechanisms can be activated by compounds in fruits and vegetables. In fact, he suggests in a recent research paper, those antioxidants may serve as mild stressors that kick our repair mechanisms into high gear. They activate a molecule in our cells known as Nrf2, which itself can trigger the activity of over 500 genes, most of which have cell-protective functions.

"This is certainly true of compounds like resveratrol," he says. "That part of the story is pretty clear." He says there's intriguing evidence that other plant compounds that increase under stress may be good for our health, too, but those benefits are not as well-documented.

Pall contends that we have co-evolved for eons with plants whose compounds benefit us. He points out that known longevity diets — such as the traditional Mediterranean and Okinawan cuisine — are rich in exactly these compounds and antioxidants.

So, backyard organic gardeners, rejoice: Your imperfect produce may be more perfect than you thought. Next time you hesitate over a flawed fruit, remember that it may be a hardy survivor bearing hidden nutritive gifts.

[like-them-apples]

Here are four of the best from around New England.

Artifact Cider Project Wild Thing

When he was diagnosed with celiac disease in college, Jake Mazar didn’t mourn his beerless fate for long. Instead, he went down a cidery rabbit hole, eventually opening this two-person operation in Springfield with childhood friend Soham Bhatt. There, they experiment with everything from local apple blossom honey to wild yeast—something that helps transform everyday Macs into this refreshing, Riesling-like elixir.

Shacksbury Pét-Nat

Pioneers in the movement to make cider from the feral, bittersweet apples found along the dirt roads of rural New England, Shacksbury’s Colin Davis and David Dolginow are spearheading another innovation: adopting the wine world’s practice of pétillant-naturel—affectionately known as pét-nat—a natural fermentation method that imparts a refreshing, gentle carbonation. Crafted from “lost” and English cider fruit, this unfiltered blend has tropical aromas of peach and mango.

La Garagista Bouleverser

On their small parcel of land near Barnard, Vermont, husband-and-wife team Caleb Barber and Deirdre Heekin grow the vegetables, wine grapes, and even cider apples for their Woodstock restaurant, Osteria Pane e Salute. Made in the solera style (most commonly seen in sherry production), the second vintage of their Bouleverser cider includes juice from five different vintages and 17 apple varieties, making for a complex, electric sparkler.

Stormalong The Grand Banks

Trending:

Behold, the New Wood-Fired Journeyman

Shannon Edgar hopes to resurrect Sherborn’s pre-Prohibition status as a hard-cider heavyweight with this recently launched brand, named after the mythical, 30-foot-tall seaman Alfred Bulltop Stormalong. His latest release, a collaboration with Bully Boy Distillers, combines heirloom apples (Roxbury Russet and Northern Spy) that are aged in whiskey barrels for a year. The result: structured, coconut-y, and bone dry on the finish.

[like-them-apples]

 Apples of the World: World cider - Imbibe

Susanna Forbes takes us on a global trend tour of what looks set to be one of this year’s hottest drinks categories.

France   A more wine-like approach

While large players dominate the scene, a number of artisanal cideries are escaping the rustic crêperie typecasting. Domaine Dupont’s Calvados-cask aged cider appears at New York’s Gramercy Tavern. ‘We are bringing a more wine-like approach,’ says Jérôme Dupont. ‘I want to show apples from my terroir can produce not only “traditional” ciders.’

Pomze in Paris illustrates the shift of perception even further. At this Bib Gourmand-garlanded restaurant the humble apple appears as the cultural reference point for the food on the menu as well as drink.

Yet perhaps this is not surprising. As Pete Brown and Bill Bradshaw relate in World’s Best Ciders, just a century ago, more cider was drunk in France than wine, and the Bretons believe their region to be the true location of Avalon, the legendary ‘Island of Apples’.

Production centres on Normandy, Brittany and the Pays Basque, with producers such as Eric Bordelet, Christian Drouin and Domaine Dupont offering up ciders for celebration and food as well as quaffing. Inspiration comes from nature, not think-tanks.

For Guillaume Drouin, son of Christian and president of the family firm, a Christmas cider doesn’t mean one with spices added, but one where late-ripening cider apples are stored until Christmas Day. ‘I wanted to make the cider later, when it is cold, for a slow fermention,’ he explains.

Medium-sized producers such as Cidre Le Brun also keep faith in tradition. At its Breton base, fruit is handpicked, ciders are made with 100% juice and only cider apple varieties are used, except for special ciders such as its rosé cider, made with a pink-fleshed apple.

And what of the big boys? ‘While brands such as Ecusson and Loïc Raison hardly compare to artisanal ciders, they embarrass industrial brands from other countries, retaining far more of cider’s true character in both style and substance,’ say Brown and Bradshaw.

Apples: Primarily cider varieties; hundreds available. Blends are the norm, primarily with bittersweet varieties.

Best known for: Normandy and Brittany: 70/75cl bottles; off-dry, sparkling, bottle-conditioned or keeved cider (see box on p.93). Pays Basque: flat, drier ciders. More recently, refined, wine-like ciders.

Trends for 2016: Cocktails, either with cider on topping-up duties, or in its distilled incarnation, Calvados. Pommeau, the apple juice/Calvados aperitif.

What’s new? Cidre Le Brun in 37.5cl bottles (Instil Drinks).

Over here: Cidre Le Brun (Instil Drinks), Christian Drouin (McKinley Vintners), Côte Breton Brut Cidre (Truman’s); Domaine Dupont (Marussia Beverages), Eric Bordelet (Les Caves de Pyrène), Loic Raïson (Beers of Europe)

Spain The theatre is integral

Spanish cider has two personas. One, the accessible, off-dry ciders such as Avalon, El Gaitero and Maeloc Dry. The other, sidra natural, the spine-tingling style of Asturian and Galician ciders, with all their heritage and theatre.

In those regions, the tangy cider apples are the stars (see box opposite), yet precious few ofthese ciders actually make it to the UK for us to try – they are not the easiest sell to the uninitiated. If you do want to track them down, Spanish specialist Mevalco carries Trabanco’s Homegrown Cider and Instil Drinks has Maeloc’s Sidra Natural Ecológica.

Yet in Northern Spain, sidra natural is a way of life with a pouring ritual to rival sabrage. Try directing a stream of cider from a great height into a small glass. This technique aerates the cider, triggering a temporary burst of fizz. It’s known as cider-throwing and it’s integral to the taste experience.

Its tangy nature makes sidra natural a remarkably versatile partner for food. Mevalco’s David Menéndez points to strong cheese and the classic fabada asturiana, a rich pork, bean and black pudding stew, as two matches of note.

In Spain cider has made the transition from summer seasonal to all-year tipple, according to Isabel Trabanco, the fourth generation to be involved with the major Asturian producer. Production models vary. While Maeloc, part of the Estrella Galicia family, works with over 1,000 Galician growers, Trabanco uses apples from its own 100ha of orchards.

Many of Trabanco’s ciders ferment in traditional chestnut barrels, but look out for the company’s Poma Áurea Brut Nature. Fermented at low temperature for months before a gentle, secondary fermentation in tank, this cider is ‘dry, mellow and balanced, with floral aromas and a hint of fig,’ says Menéndez.

Apples: Over 100 varieties to choose from. Asturias has its own PDO, governing both production methods and the 22 permitted apple varieties.

Best known for: Dry, still sidra natural. Off-dry, sparkling cider.

Over here: Avalon (Morgenrot); Maeloc (Instil Drinks; Matthew Clark); El Gaitero (Beers of Europe; Instil Drinks); Trabanco (Mevalco)

Sweden Modern gastronomy match

Ranging from eloquent ice ciders to gregarious big boys Kopparberg and Rekorderlig, life certainly isn’t dull in Scandi-ciderland. Boutique producers number only a few dozen, but Andreas Sundgren, founder and cidermaker at Brännland Cider, says that the ‘craft cider industry is waking up in a serious way’.

Ice ciders are made in the Canadian method, allowing the must to concentrate prior to fermentation, and Sundgren is unperturbed that dessert apples predominate. ‘Their high acidity and freshness mirror modern gastronomy very well,’ he says, making this focus an advantage when finding ‘a unique Scandinavian expression’.

Berries are an intrinsic part of the local culture so it’s perhaps not surprising that fruit ciders exploded onto the world from there. Back in Britain, the love affair with fruit cider continues. Kopparberg’s Strawberry and Lime, for example, outstripped the fruit category as a whole, seeing growth of over 20% in 2015.

Apples: Dessert apples. Minimum juice content: 15%.

Best known for: Medium cider. Fruit cider.

Trends for 2016: Cocktails. While the ever-creative Joel Persson of Rekorderlig blazes a mixology trail around the globe, the talented Emil Åreng, a regular on the world bartender circuit, creates drinks with Brännland’s Iscider.

Over here: Kopparberg; Rekorderlig UK (Molson Coors); Herrljunga (Beers of Europe), Brännland (Nordic Nectar)

USA In top restaurants with wine There aren’t many US ciders over here yet, but with over 540 cider houses, it won’t be long. Cider’s heritage in the USA goes back to the first settlers. While some stalwarts stuck with their orchards, honing ‘heirloom’ varieties, the recent renaissance was triggered by pioneers such as Steve Wood at Farnum Hill in New Hampshire in the 1980s.

Today the situation is electric. While the big boys fight over distribution, boutique producers champion heritage apples and make ciders that sit beside wines in top restaurants. Take the legendary Aaron Burr cidery. Its ‘regular’ 75cl Golden Russet is on the list at New York’s Terroir’s for $44, while Malus Baccata, made from three years of foraged crab apples, commands $300 per 50cl bottle at groundbreaking cider bar Wassail, on the aptly named Orchard Street in NYC.

Washington State tops the apple-growing chart, with a cider Gold Rush under way. Born in 2013, Seattle Cider Co is already the fifth largest independent US cider company, mainly due to its dry and semi-sweet cans. Slowly, cider is breaking into the on-trade, with Bushwhacker pub in Portland among the first.

‘There aren’t many rules,’ says Ryan Burk, Angry Orchard’s cidermaker, who opened Innovation Cider House in New York’s Hudson Valley last August. ‘US cidermakers are innovating like crazy and defining global styles, like hopped cider.’

It’s not all fancy flavours. Wood, the godfather of the new cider wave, has ‘no intent to step into the crowd of “innovative” cidermakers. Our sort of cidermaking is more like winemaking than it is like wine-cooler. We only want to get better at the basic work we do, in the orchard and in the cider room.’

For more information on the US cider scene check out Eric West’s ciderguide.com and the United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) website: ciderassociation.org.

Apples: Production focuses on the Canadian border states. There are breakouts, including Virginia. Minimum juice content: 50%. Volume ciders: mainly dessert and culinary apples.

Best known for: Off-dry brands such as Angry Orchard and Woodchuck Hard Cider. Wine-like, 75cl still ciders.

Trends for 2016: Fruit and hop ciders. Good-looking cans. See Cider cocktails: Another Bite of the Apple by Darlene Hayes.

Ones to watch: Farnum Hill Cider; Snowdrift Cider Co; Eden Ice Cider; Reverend Nat’s, Wandering Aengus.

Over here: Angry Orchard is the first US cider to be fermented in the UK, thanks to parent company Boston Beer Company’s relationship with Shepherd Neame. Doc’s Draft (Euroboozer); Woodchuck Hard Cider (C&C, Matthew Clark), Seattle Cider Co (Left Coast), Original Sin (Beers of Europe). Also check out the peerless Canadian ice ciders, including the Neige range (Matthew Clark).

From Heirlooms to keeving – what affects flavour?

Like grapes, tannins, sugars and acid are the cornerstones of an apple’s flavours. Yet unlike grapes, the apple is a fickle beast. Plant a pip, and you won’t get a replica of the parent apple. Apple trees need to be grafted, meaning that every country has its own treasure chest of ‘heirloom’ varieties. Here in the UK, West Country ciders rely on so-called bittersweet and bittersharp varieties.

All of the sugars in apples are fermentable, so if you let nature take its course, as happens in the West Country, a full fermentation results in a bone-dry cider. To get an off-dry or sweet cider, sweetness can be added back in, or fermentation stopped part-way, and the cider pasteurised or filtered to remove the live yeast.

French cidermakers have perfected their own technique, called keeving. It’s tricky to achieve, but in essence, by removing some of the yeast’s nutrients at the start of fermentation, it stops it going all the way, resulting in an off-dry cider with slightly lower alcohol.

For ciders the world over, a key question is how much water is added after fermentation. This relates as much to big, commercial brands, where concentrate is routinely used, as it does to the artisanal producer. Most countries have a statutory minimum juice content – in the UK it’s 35%, the US is 50%. In proud cider regions like northern France and northern Spain, 100% juice is the norm, and leading producers would use nothing else.

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How to Grow Stepover Apple Trees - Espalier Style from Orchard People on Vimeo.

Stepover Apple Trees are Perfect for a Small Garden

If you have a small, sunny garden and are interested in growing small fruit trees, planting stepover apple trees may be a perfect solution. These low growing espalier apple trees can be planted along a walkway or around a garden bed.

In this video, Tonia Lordy of the Home Orchard Society explains what stepover apple trees are and how to grow them.

Remember to start with apple trees on dwarf root stock! If you want to learn more about how to select, grow and care for fruit trees, check out Orchard People’s Beginner Fruit Tree Care Workshop at www.orchardpeople.com.