North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[David.Maxwell@dal.ca]

On 21 Feb 2008 at 22:03, Richard MURPHY wrote:

<SNIP>. 
> I never ate a Cider apple. But, I might guess that a part of their 
> redeeming reputation is based on qualities 
> that were otherwise unavailable in olden times.
<SNIP>

I can assure you that you do not want to eat a cider apple - they are mostly 
inedible 
- astringent (real pucker-power) because of the high tannin ("bitter"), may 
have high 
sugar ("bitter-sweet"), but mostly low in acid, (acids contributed to mixture 
by 
"sharps" if you like a 'vinegary' taste (and some do!).  Their reputation has 
nothing 
to do with things that were unavailable in olden times (but are in more 
modern 
apples) - they are very specifically selected for qualities which in fact are 
lacking in 
modern apples, at least in North America. (The broad exception to this 
statement is 
the inclusion of Russets in cider making - in general Russets are quite 
edible, 
(although I personally am not fond of them).  Development of new cider 
varieties 
continues in Britain (at Long Ashton - the only research station I know of 
where the 
entire focus is on cider apples) and on the continent (the French have active 
work 
on cider production, and of course Calvados is distilled from cider.)  Now, 
all this is 
predicated on the understanding of what we mean by "cider" (or as I prefer, 
to 
distinguish it from other apple beverages, "cyder").  Real cyder, as made in 
Britain 
and the continent is a very specific drink that is very much an acquired 
taste, and 
not to the liking of most North Americans.  I suspect that it would be 
difficult to 
duplicate with eating or cooking apple varieties.