Characteristics and fermentability of cider apple cultivars grown in Sweden

Sammanfattning

In countries with a long apple cider-making tradition, such as United Kingdom or France, cider is traditionally made from a blend of special cider apple cultivars, that for example, by its content of phenolic compounds give the cider a desired bitter taste. There is a growing interest among cider producers in cultivating cider apple cultivars in Sweden, in order to produce a wider range of ciders than is possible using the table apple cultivars that are typically grown. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate how British and French cider apple cultivars perform when grown in Sweden, based on chemical traits of both the apple and cider. A further objective was to increase the understanding of apple juice fermentability and how it is affected by different juice traits by monitoring the progress of fermentation. The results showed, for example, that the included cultivars differed in fermentability, possibly influenced by nitrogen, and indicated good fruit quality, based on the investigated parameters, in French and British cider cultivars when grown in Sweden. Classification of most cultivars were, in this study, consistent with traditional classification of the cultivars according to Long Ashton Research Station’s classification system.