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Cider Digest #1751
Subject: Cider Digest #1751, 13 December 2012
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1751 13 December 2012
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Hewes (Steury and Noel)
Re: Harrison, VA Crab, Wickson; others? (Scott Smith)
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Subject: Hewes
From: Steury and Noel <steurynoel@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 09:27:10 -0800
I've been using Hewes for the last couple of years now. Gravity this
year was around 1.070. Wonderful flavor. However, the tannins it
develops here in north Idaho are way too strong to use it on its own.
It's great for blending. One other thing regarding the high sugar.
One moderate frost will push it to water core.
Tim Steury
- --
Steury and Noel
1021 McBride Road
Potlatch, ID 83855
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Subject: Re: Harrison, VA Crab, Wickson; others?
From: Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 12:37:54 -0500
For those folks in more humid climates I would like to add that Wickson
cracks badly every third or so year for me, and for this reason I have
tempered my interest in this variety. It is also a CAR magnet and that
disease is hard to control organically.
As Ben states, VA Crab is early and in my climate I find it inconvenient
to work with because I need to do something with them quickly, its often
quite hot when they are ripening and they can spoil. In reading the old
sources they do not mention this apple as being so early and I wonder if
the modern version is not an early sport or a seedling of the version
grown in colonial times.
I have not fruited Harrison yet but it sounds like a more friendly apple
from my perspective.
On a related topic I would be interested in other apples to consider for
cider in a climate with long, hot, humid summers. I had around 50
European cider apple varieties under trial but nearly all the tannins
got baked out, and the few apples that held some tannins were very prone
to rots in my low-spray organic production method. My focus now is on
later ripening apples as they end up with fewer rots, more tannins due
to the cooler ripening period, and are easier to manage harvesting in
cooler weather. Winesap and Grimes are some classic mid-Atlantic cider
apples I am considering for example, also GoldRush but it seems like it
would be too tart until December or so and would need to be blended.
Myers Royal Limbertwig and Pomme Gris are reliable and very good eaters
but I'm not sure how good they would be for cider.
Scott Z7 Maryland
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End of Cider Digest #1751
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