Cider and Perry - Frequently asked questions
Why
does an apple taste sweet yet cider is naturally dry?
Which apples are best for making cider?
What's special about a cider apple?
How do you know which apples to use?
What is perry?
What are single variety ciders or perrys?
Is there anything or anywhere special needed to
ferment cider or perry?
How is the fruit harvested?
When is cider & perry made?
Which ciders aren't 'Real'?
Why does an apple taste sweet yet cider is naturally
dry?
To make cider the apples are milled, i.e. reduced to small pieces,
and then pressed to release the juice. Using the natural yeast,
which covers the apple skin (or introduced yeast) and the sugars
contained within the juice, fermentation takes place. Once fermentation
is completed the sweet sugars have been converted into alcohol leaving
a dry product. Cider can then be sweetened by using unfermented
apple juice or artificial sweeteners.
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Which apples are best for making cider?
The apples, which we eat as dessert fruit, are very different from
the specialist fruit, which is usually used to make cider. There
are over 600 types of apples grown in The British Isles and each
one has a unique balance of sweetness, acidity & tannins. Of
these it is estimated three quarters are cider apples. It is the
three components of sweetness, acid & tannins, which give the
cider its range & depth of flavour. In the majority of cider
making areas specialist cider apples are used, in Kent dessert apples
balanced with the acidity of cookers are used.
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What's special about a cider apple?
Cider apples are usually more closely related to the wild crab
apple than to eating or cooking apples as they are smaller, harder
& lack the unblemished attractiveness of eaters or cookers.
If you tried to eat a cider apple you would discover its main difference
from eaters or cookers is its tannin level. Tannin is responsible
for the fruits astringency, making the fruit taste bitter and drying
the mouth & making it difficult to swallow.
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How do you know which apples to use?
Cider apples are classified by their balance of acid & tannin
according to four categories:-
Bittersweets, low acidity, high tannin
Sweets, low acidity, low tannin
Sharps, high acidity, low tannin
Bittersharps, high acidity, high tannin
Cider Makers use a closely guarded mix of apples at pressing to
create their own blend of cider, which is why if you try one that
is not totally to your taste another cider may suit you better.
Today the consumer tends to prefer sweeter, smoother less acidic
ciders so Cider Makers tend not to favour bittersharp apples with
their intense astringency and high acid content. Planning how the
cider will taste starts with the planting of orchards where a number
of different varieties of tree are planted together. This means
that all the apples can be harvested and processed at the same time
to make an outstanding product.
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What is perry?
As cider is made from apples, perry is made from pears, not just
any pear though. These are perry pears, which tend to be smaller
& harder then dessert pears. Perry tends to be produced sweet
or medium sweet although Camra's 2003 National Bronze Perry was
Barkers Dry from Worcestershire. Perry also contains natural levels
of non-fermentable sorbitol. Perry trees while bearing fruit in
3/5 years will continue to produce fruit for 200 or 300 years which
is much longer than apple trees, this has lead to the phrase plant
perry for your heirs.
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What are single variety ciders or perrys?
Increasingly Makers are using single varieties of fruit to produce
a single variety of cider, examples of this are:-
Kingston Black a medium bittersweet apple which produces a full
bodied spicy cider
Dabinett a full bittersweet apple that produces a full-bodied cider
with soft tannin
Yarlington Mill a mild bittersweet apple that produces a good bodied
fruity cider with soft tannin
Where a cider or perry label has the name of a fruit this is a
single variety. Recent winners of Camra's National Cider & Perry
Championships, which have been single varieties include:-
Hecks Hendri Huffcap Perry Gold 2001
Minchew Blakely Red Perry Gold 2002
Gwatkin Yarlington Mill Cider Gold 2002
Hecks Hangdown Cider Bronze 2003
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Is there anything or anywhere special needed
to ferment cider or perry?
Once pressed the juice of apples or perry pears are placed in wooden
vats or food grade containers and fitted with an airlock. These
are then usually placed in a barn or cellar and allowed to ferment.
Fermentation usually is completed by the spring of the following
year. This means the cider & perry which we drink this year
is last year's crop of fruit.
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How is the fruit harvested?
With traditional orchards the fruit has ripened by September &
long ash poles (which can be 40 foot long for perry trees!) are
used to knock the apples & pears from the trees. As it falls
it is stacked up in mounds or tumps, covered with straw waiting
to be bagged up & sent for milling & pressing. This is a
labour intensive process which many growers would welcome help with.
A new type of bush tree has been planted; this is a faster growing
dwarf variety of tree. Bush trees are laid out in tight rows with
wide avenues between them. Harvesting is automated with tractor
borne vibrators clamping around the tree trunk & shaking the
fruit off. Blowers are used to line up the fruit between trees and
then a machine like an apple combine harvester is used to lift the
fruit & discard stones, twigs & leaves.
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When is cider & perry made?
The majority of fruit ripens in September; therefore October is
the ideal time to mill & press. The autumn evenings being warmer
& dryer than the winter months allow the cider & perry to
get off to a good start & fermentation can be very vigorous
at this initial stage.
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Which ciders aren't 'Real'?
The most common reasons a cider or perry is not considered to be
real are that it is carbonated, pasteurised, micro-filtered, or
concentrate juice has been used. Some of these which are readily
available but not considered by CAMRA as 'Real' are listed below:
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- any cider with fruit flavour added
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