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Cider Planet: Excerpt

September 30, 2022

The following excerpt is from Claude Jolicoeur’s book Cider Planet (Chelsea Green Publishing, Sept 2022) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher.

What Is Cider and What Is Craft Cider?

One long-standing question, which is unresolved within the cider community, is that of a good definition of cider. First, I’ll write here the answer to the question, What is cider? given by the European Cider and Fruit Wine Association (AICV) in their document European Cider Trends 2021:

Cider is an alcoholic beverage obtained only by the complete or partial fermentation of:

  • the juice of fresh apples, or
  • the reconstituted juice of concentrate made from the juice of apple, or
  • the mixture of juice of fresh apples and of reconstituted juice of concentrate made from the juice of apple

The product will have in general an alcohol content within the range of 1.2% to less than 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), and should maintain the character of fermented apple juice. Adding distilled alcohol to cider is forbidden.[. . .]

In the late 1980’s modern ciders were born: ciders containing juice and flavorings began to be produced, alongside traditional ciders. The industry calls these ‘flavored ciders’, and they can contain, in addition to the apple base, ingredients such as juice of other fruits, extracts, flavourings, etc.

The range of beverages that share the name cider (or its equivalent in other languages) is huge. In one extreme of this range, we find small producers who grow their own apples, juice them, and make a cider from the natural fermentation of that juice with no other addition. On the other extreme, we find large multinational industrial facilities that produce alcopop-type cider from water, sugar, glucose syrup, imported apple juice concentrate, and chemical flavorings and additives, but often, no fresh apples at all. According to the website of one of these producers: “Rekorderlig is made by combining the purest Swedish spring water with wild and exotic fruits,” which is quite paradoxical when we know that neither water nor wild and exotic fruits are ingredients in traditional cider making.* In some countries (but not all) these two obviously very different products, alcopop-type cider and real cider, may be seen on the shelves of the same store and share the same name: cider. Such an absurd situation has been made possible by extremely lax regulations in countries where lobbying from large companies may have contributed to the relaxing of rules. And please, understand me on this: I have nothing against alcopop-type ciders. They exist because there is a demand for them; plus, some of them actually taste good. It is just that I don’t think they should be called cider because they are, really, something else. The fact that they share the same name makes it confusing for the customers who may have difficulty knowing what exactly they are buying. Naturally, things would be easier if cider had the same international status as wine, which has a fairly well-accepted definition throughout the world—it is generally well understood that a fermented mixture of water, sugar, grape concentrate, and other chemicals can’t be sold as red or white wine anywhere on this planet. Such drinks do exist, but they are given a different name.

In reaction to this situation, smaller-scale cider makers try to differentiate their product from some of the industrial offerings. One way of doing this is by adding a qualifier to the word cider. Some people then talk about farm cider, traditional cider, real cider, or craft cider. . . . Let’s try to see what these qualifiers really mean:

Farm Cider should be farm-based, which means that it is made from apples that are grown on the farm (or nearby), and all cider making activities are also done on the maker’s farm.

Traditional Cider should respect the traditions of the region where it is produced. This would mainly relate to the choice of apple varieties, the cider making process, and the style.

Real Cider should be the product of the fermentation of a must (unfermented juice) obtained from freshly milled and pressed apples, with minimal adjuncts or other ingredients. Hence this is mainly a question of ingredients.

Craft Cider may be seen as the opposite of industrial cider, made on a small scale by a maker who is an artisan. But in a more stringent sense, a craft cider may include all other previous qualifiers and be defined as a farm-based, real cider that respects local traditions.

However good these qualifiers may be, the question remains as to where we draw the line. Some larger producers firmly believe they also produce craft cider, even if they chaptalize (add sugar) heavily and use some apple juice concentrate in their process. They then hijack the word craft and use it in the marketing of their product with bucolic images of orchards that let customers believe they are buying some- thing other than what the product actually is. The point is that, unfortunately, these qualifiers don’t mean much anymore when they appear on the label of a bottle of cider.

It should be said that this question of the definition of craft is not unique to cider. I read recently about this same problem relative to distilled spirits:

Moreover, since a clear legal definition of “craft” as well as associated concepts is lacking in most countries, big brands often resort to marketing their (mass-produced) products as “craft” (Johnnie Walker), “handcrafted” (Jim Beam), “handmade” (Tito’s vodka) and so on.*

This being said, for the purpose of my book, since I can’t find a better qualifier, I will nevertheless call the cider that drives our interest by the name craft cider. This is not a perfect solution, of course, as many people have very different perceptions for the meaning of this term. For my part, I see it as the opposite of industrial cider. Hence there is a question of scale of production (craft cider usually being made in small batches), but also, when cider making becomes more akin to a process that is repeated to create exactly the same product batch after batch, it loses the crafty side of it. I would not consider as craft a cider maker who does systematic chaptalization and/or dilution of his ciders or who uses bulk-bought juices or concentrates, because I think craft cider makers should know their raw material (the apples), where they come from and how they have been grown, and work to make the best possible product while respecting the apples they have. Tom Oliver, a well-known cider maker from Herefordshire, once said: “A craft cider maker has an involvement in every step of the process and can answer any question about the cider,” to which he also added that “he gets his hands dirty.” On the same order of ideas, Mark Gleonec wrote in his blog:

Cider is the product of an orchard.
Cider is the work of a cider maker.
Cider is a cultural marker.

I think these two quotes taken together say it all. Hence in my book we particularly draw our attention to ciders that are made by cider makers who get their hands dirty and know about the cider they make—from the apples that have ripened in a nearby orchard to their respect for the culture or tradition relative to the region of production.

The Origin and the Future of the Cider Apple: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is not a traditional cider country, but I think it deserves to be included in the beginning of our tour of the Cider Planet because this is where our apples originated, and more precisely in the Tian Shan range of mountains that spread between China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. At the foot of those mountains, we find forests of wild apple trees of the species Malus sieversii that have grown and evolved naturally for thousands of years. According to some historians, these apples were brought to Europe by the first merchants who made the trip between China and Europe—in effect the ancient Silk Road that crossed the Tian Shan—and no doubt these merchants gathered a good supply of the best apples they could find as they traveled through the forests. They then threw the pips along their route, all the way to Europe. . . . New trees grew from these seeds, produced apples, crossed with some native populations of crab apples of different species, and after a number of generations this process produced a complex hybrid now known as the domestic apple,

Malus domestica. Most botanists and geneticists who have studied the apple conclude that M. domestica is quite close genetically to M. sieversii. This species, then, would be the most important gene provider to our modern cider apple.

I had the very special opportunity to visit some of the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan in the late summer of 2017 with three respected colleagues: Andrew Lea, author of Craft Cider Making and of numerous scientific publications; Peter Mitchell, founder of the Cider and Perry Academy; and Ryan Burk, head cider maker at Angry Orchard. Pretty good company indeed. We were like kids in a dream playground!

There is a man, Aimak Dzhangaliev, who devoted his entire life to the study and conservation of the wild apple forests in Kazakhstan. Fortunately for us, a good part of his work has been translated and published in English in the scientific journal Horticultural Reviews. In the second half of the last century, he identified a number of wild apple trees that produced superior fruit for cider making, fresh eating, juicing, or processing. He then founded, near the city of Almaty, a conservation orchard where these selections were grafted and grown in a more typical orchard environment. We were privileged to be able to visit this orchard, meet the head scientist, Gaukhar Mukanova, and taste the apples as well as juice from selections that showed a wide diversity in appearance and flavor. Some seemed highly promising, and no doubt very fine cider could be made from these apples.

As yet, there is no tangible cider production in Kazakhstan, but it is coming soon. . . . Apple City Cider is a very serious project and is a cidery that will use M. sieversii apples in their blends. Possibly, in the foreseeable future, we will be able to taste Kazakh cider. Let’s note also that during the 1990s there were a number of scientific expeditions to these wild apple forests, and the scientists brought back some vegetative cuttings and seeds of M. sieversii. Now, many trees of that species are growing at the Geneva Experiment Station in New York. In addition, seeds as well as grafting wood have been distributed to many collectors all around the world. As a result, I expect that some people will soon discover great cider apples within these materials, and that we will be able to see and drink ciders made at least in part from M. sieversii apples of Kazakh origin.

 

Claude Jolicoeur

Claude Jolicoeur is the author of The New Cider Maker’s Handbook, which has been acclaimed worldwide as a major reference on the topic of cider making. A mechanical engineer and research scientist by profession, he started in the late 1980s making cider as a hobby and has since earned many awards at competitions, including Best of Show at the prestigious Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (GLINTCAP). Claude has traveled widely throughout the Cider Planet, is regularly invited to be a guest speaker or cider judge at international cider festivals and events, and actively participates in discussion forums such as the Cider Workshop. He lives in Quebec City.

Tags: cider making, craft food movement, orchards, rebuilding resilient food and farming systems