North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Robert C. Mullins" <mullins@gaelicmysts.com>]

Richard:

Thanks a ton for the 2 cents, but for a newbie like myself it's worth 
much more.  I was going to wait to start making cider, but now that you 
bring it up....
Do you know of a site or somebody who sells in-expensive gear?  I have a 
wife and five children so I don't have alot of flexibility on spending.  
Are there some cheap options?  spending over $100 for the base equipment 
is a bit much for me, I would rather buy the trees, instead. ;)

Thanks again.

(btw:  if I need to take this discussion off the boards please let me know.)



Richard MURPHY wrote:
> I'm going to toss my 2 cents in..............
>  
> By all means, go ahead and plant a few trees. See the Fedco site. They 
> have a bunch.
>  
> I don't know what the cider will be used for, but if it's 
> booze.............
>  
> There's only 2 things you just can't fake; apple aroma and apple 
> taste. My advice is to go to the store and buy some local apples (if 
> there is such a thing). Eat them. Smell and taste them. Go for the 
> ones with a loud apple attitude. Sugar can be boosted, Malic acid can 
> be boosted or reduced, tannin can be added for astringency. (Too much 
> tannin in a commercial apple is not possible). Believe it or not, dumb 
> old Mc Intosh is decent for being 'appley'. So are Cortlands, and 
> Cortlands squeeze easily. An Ambrosia apple or a Red Delicious is not. 
> Jonagold, if you can find them, Spencer, Wolf River (don't laugh) and 
> Fortune and Empire are 'appley' too. 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. Grimes 
> Golden was popular because it had a lot of sugar. Crab apples are a 
> good source of tannin, too, if you want to refrain from adding tannin 
> powder.
>  
> I make wine with cider all the time. One of my recipes called "Amber" 
> is 100% cider with some sugar and tannin added. I ferment to dryness 
> to about 12%, then sorbate and back-sweeten and bottle. It is very 
> popular with my family. In fact, when cider season is over, I actually 
> use Mott's 100% Natural apple juice, (with the crud still in the 
> bottle) and doctor it up to 'near' cider quality. That works for wine, 
> but not for fresh drinking. My people are 'regular folk' and couldn't 
> tell a Chardonnay if they were afloat in it. Nobody cares!
>  
> Plant the trees, but start your experiments making juice asap.
>  
> Murph
>  
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Robert Mullins <mailto:mullins@gaelicmysts.com>
>     *To:* North American Fruit Explorers <mailto:nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:54 AM
>     *Subject:* [NAFEX] Cider Making
>
>     Does anyone have any resources on types of apples to grow for great
>     cider making?  After reading several things I am pretty much
>     confused,
>     bitters, sharps, bittersharps, sweets, bittersweets........
>
>     I am trying to make some decisions on what to grow and now I don't
>     know.  I just planted several Arkansas Blacks on a dwarving
>     rootstock. 
>     Oh btw, I am in Arkansas.  Zone 7a-7b.
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