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Cider Digest #1127
Subject: Cider Digest #1127, 11 April 2004
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1127 11 April 2004
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Tannin from apples (Robert Sandefer)
Re: Tannin from apples (Dick Dunn)
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Subject: Re: Tannin from apples
From: Robert Sandefer <melamor@vzavenue.net>
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:33:30 -0400
Proulx and Nichols suggest the variety Newtown has more tannin than most
dessert apples.
Lindel and Red Astrakhan are also listed as more tannic apples (in
addition to crabs like Martha, Dolgo, Red Siberian, and Transcendent).
These varieties may or may not be an option for you/your process/location.
Robert Sandefer
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Subject: Re: Tannin from apples
From: rcd@talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 19:40:44 -0600 (MDT)
Charles Fritsch <cafritsch@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I make and retail an all natural fermented cider...
[lack of tannins in his fruit currently in production]
> Since the Federal tax restrictions for marketing a fermented cider without a
> liscense requires 100% apple juice and no other additives, I need a source
> of tannin from apple juice. Any suggestions?
You don't say how much you're producing, which might affect whether this
will work, but: Hunt around for wild (seedling) trees. You may find trees
that are essentially abandoned, or only kept around because nobody has
bothered to grub them out, and someone will tell you, "Yeah, it's a pretty
tree in the spring...but the apples are bitter little things, not all that
nice. I s'pose I oughta get rid of the tree, but it's so much work." Or
maybe the tree sits on a ditch bank where nobody cares about it. Not only
may you get the fruit for free; you might be doing somebody a favor to take
it.
A common suggestion is to go for crabapples for tannin, and often you can
find crabs for the taking. The trouble I've found...and it took me a while
to sort this out...is that there's really two meanings (at least in the US)
to "crab apple". One is a wilding, seedling, whatever you want to call a
tree that just came up from seed (and therefore isn't true to its
parentage). A lot of these trees will give small regular apples, sometimes
notably tannic and/or acidic, other times profoundly boring. The other
meaning is apples of Malus species other than Malus pumila, planted
intentionally, often purely ornamental but sometimes for fruit for jelly.
These are iffy but not in the same way as the wildings: if they've been
chosen to be usable in the kitchen, they may be slightly tannic but not
particularly so. What they *will* be is tart. They're great if you need
to improve the acidity of an otherwise bland cider, but you may not be able
to use enough to bring the tannin up without pushing the acidity "to
eleven". Also, if you're scrounging crabs from friends and neighbors,
keep in mind they're not as easy to grind.
Just for example, I've got some Dolgo crabs here. The fruit is really
sweet-tart and has a wonderful flavor. There's some tannin, but not
enough: The juice from last fall was SG 1.072-1.074, which is good, but
the acidity on one picking measured 2.6% TA (malic) and the other was
right at 3.0%. Yeah, I re-checked those numbers! The point is, even if
it had reasonable tannin, I couldn't use much of it...maybe 10% if I had
a low-acid blend of juice to start with...which wouldn't have been enough
to help the tannin level.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1127
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