Cider Apple

Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking. Some apples are considered to occupy more than one category.

In the United Kingdom the Long Ashton Research Station categorised cider apples in 1903 into four main types according to the proportion of tannins and malic acid in the fruit. For cider production it is important that the fruit contains high sugar levels which encourage fermentation and raise the final alcohol levels. Cider apples therefore often have higher sugar levels than dessert and cooking apples. It is also considered important for cider apples to contribute tannins, which add depth to the finished cider's flavour.

Classification of cider apples

Long Ashton Research Station classification system

In 1903, Professor B.T.P. Barker, the first director of the Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) in Bristol, England,Miles, C., King, J., & Peck, G. (2015)
Commonly Grown Cider Apple Cultivars in the U.S.
Mount Vernon, WA: WSU Mount Vernon NWREC. Retrieved 27 April 2018. established an analytical classification system for cider apples based on tannin and malic acid percentages in pressed juice. This system is divided into four categories, which are as follows:

Long Ashton´s classification system also included a three-level classification of tannin: "full" for an apple with pronounced tannins (e.g. a "full bittersweet" such as Chisel Jersey, "mild" for light tannins such as Cummy Norman, and "medium" such as Dabinett.Jolicoeur, C. (2013) ''The New Cider Maker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers'', p.47

Tannins are further sometimes categorised as "hard" or "soft", for bitter and astringent tannins respectively.

British cidermakers normally blend juice from apples of multiple categories to ensure a finished cider with a balanced flavour and for the best and most consistent quality. While traditional ciders were made from whatever apples were available locally, the blend of sugar, acid and tannin required for a successful cider is difficult to achieve from any single cultivar with the possible exception of some bittersharps.Lea in Bamforth and Ward (eds.) (2014) ''The Oxford Handbook of Food Fermentations'', Oxford: OUP, p.156 As bittersharps are rare, a common modern approach is to use a range of bittersweet varieties with some sharps, or a cooking apple such as the readily available Bramley, to balance the acidity.Lea
The Science of Cidermaking: Fruit and Cultivation
accessed 18-05-18 Sharps, with their high acid content, also keep the cider's pH below 3.8 to prevent spoilage; sweets help provide adequate sugar for fermentation to the proper alcohol content.

French and Spanish classification systems

In addition to the Long Ashton Research Station classification, Charles Neal has written about a French classification system. In France and Spain, the system has an intermediate category called ''acidulée'' or ''acidulada'' respectively, which is sometimes used to classify cider apples that are semi-tart and have low tannin content. Similar to the English system, acidity and tannins are considered. Apples are classified as follows:

In the US, there are four regions where cider apples are grown in orchards: the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Northwest. Out of the twenty most commonly grown cider apple varieties, half originate from England, two come from France, and the rest originate in America. Most special cider cultivars for European ciders are bittersweets and bittersharps, which have high tannin content. There are not a lot of cultivars with high tannins readily available in the U.S. Most ciders in the United States are made from culled dessert apples that are generally sweets and sharps. There is no systematic classification of North American apple cultivars for cider-making purposes. However, there is a database for apple varieties called the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS).

Other classification considerations

Beyond the Long Ashton or English system and French system for classifying cider apples, there are other considerations for characterisation. Other measurements taken of apple varieties towards use in cider classification include pH, polyphenol composition, Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen (YAN), and soluble solid concentration (ºBrix). The sharpness of an apple is affected by pH and titratable acidity. Most cultivars must reach pH levels of around 3.3 to 3.8 to aid in the fermentation process, and additions of malic acid may be necessary if the cider apple is over this desired threshold. Soluble solids as measured in units of degrees Brix can be used to quantify the potential alcohol that a yeast can ferment from the initial juice of the cider apple. This is carefully considered in cultivars from areas where there are tax regulations on the percentage of alcohol by volume that is contained in these products. In the United States, "hard cider" legally falls between the 0.5% to 8.5% alcohol by volume tax bracket. Cideries that exceed a soluble solids level of 17 °Brix will be subject to higher tax levels that are classified under cider wine. In the United Kingdom, cider falls in two duty brackets, with a flat rate for up to 7.4% ABV, and a higher duty rate for ciders between 7.4% to 8.5% ABV. Foaming is an intricate, yet essential component that can be used to assess the overall quality of a cider and distinguish between natural and sparkling ciders. Chemically, hydrophobic polypeptides contribute to the initial foam, bubble size, the extent to which it persists, number of nucleation sites, and the froth of the foam (foam collar). These chemical compositions and parameters are quantitatively measured through metrics such as foam height, foam stability height, and stability time. The olfactory sensory profile is used to determine the specific aroma of the cider. Research is still ongoing in this field, but the aromas that contribute to the sensory perceptions of cider mainly come from the phenols 4-ethyl guaiacol and 4-ethyl phenol.

Styles

Cider is made in several countries and can be made from any apples. Historically the flavours preferred and varieties used to produce cider have varied by region. Many of the most traditional apple varieties used for ciders come from or are derived from those from Devon, Somerset and Herefordshire in England, Normandy in France, and Asturias in Spain, and these areas are considered to have their own broad cider styles although the many exceptions make this more of a historic footnote. Normandy cider is usually naturally carbonated and clear: Asturian cider apple varieties are mainly 'sharps' or mild 'bittersweets',Bamforth and Ward (2014) p.154 producing a mildly acidic cider which is customarily served by being poured from height into the glass to oxygenate it.

In the UK there are two broad styles of cider, determined by the types of apple available. The style associated with the east of England (East Anglia, Kent, Sussex) used surplus dessert and cooking apples and was therefore characterised by an acidic, light-bodied cider. The other style, using specific cider apple cultivars with higher tannin levels, is usually associated with the West Country, particularly Somerset, and Three Counties. Within these broad types there are also a number of more specific regional styles. The ciders of Devon were often made largely from sweets, the cultivars low in acid and tannins that typified the county's orchards.Rosenstein, R. ''In Praise of Apples: A Harvest of History, Horticulture & Recipes'', 1999, p.13''Agriculture: the journal of the Ministry of Agriculture'', v.59 (1952), 195 Devon cidermakers also specialised in "keeved", or "matched" cider, where fermentation was slowed to produce a naturally sweet finish, though such ciders were usually intended for the London market and a fully fermented, dry "rough" cider was preferred for home consumption.Shapter, ''The Climate of the South of Devon, and Its Influence Upon Health'', 1842, pp. 223-4 Somerset ciders, by contrast, have tended to be stronger and more tannic. Bittersweet cultivars, locally known as "Jersey" apples, were typical of Somerset, although the county's most famous apple, Kingston Black, was a mild bittersharp.Morgan, J. ''The new book of apples'', 2013, p.lxxi The West Midland county of Gloucestershire traditionally favoured bittersharp apples, giving strong ciders with a higher bite of acidity and tannins: neighbouring Worcestershire and Herefordshire also favoured acidic cider apples, but their growers also made plantings of dual purpose apples to take advantage of markets in nearby industrial centres.

Single varietal cider cultivars

Historically ciders have been almost invariably made from blending apple varieties, and the practice of making single variety ciders is considered largely a modern approach. Only a very small number of apple varieties are considered to be capable of making a good single-variety cider. These fruit are designated as having "vintage" quality, a term first introduced by Robert Hogg in 1888, and further popularised by Barker at Long Ashton: it should be understood as referring to the cultivar's ability to produce complex and interesting flavours, rather than in the sense "vintage" is used in winemaking.

*Sweet Coppin is a sweet originating in Devon;
*Sweet Alford is another Devon sweet variety;
* Crimson King is a sharp, first grown in Somerset;
*Yarlington Mill is a bittersweet, named after the mill in