Direct-retail sweet cidermakers have two big advantages: First, they produce cider from apples they grow on their own farm; second, they make better cider than the cider sold in grocery stores.
But Shanthanu Krishna Kuma, Penn State University assistant professor of tree fruit, said those advantages have made direct-retail cidermakers a bit complacent about differentiating their products in the marketplace.
“What is something that makes your sweet cider unique?” he asked his audience at the Sweet/Hard Cider session on Dec. 10, Day 1 of the 2024 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He discussed the effects of crop load management on sweet and hard cider attributes. He also discussed ways to market sweet cider and the importance of balancing sweetness and acidity ratios to achieve consistent cider quality.
Krishna Kumar has seen a lot of hard cider labels that trumpet the varieties included, and he’d like to see more sweet cider labels do the same.
“Any particular variety giving a particular flavor or aroma to your cider? Any other fruit that’s added to the mix?” he asked. “It’s important to show some of the uniqueness in your cider. Consumers want to know.”
There’s a greater emphasis on apple color in the marketplace today. If your cider has a red or pink hue, it could possibly be monetized for a slightly higher price, he said.
Appearance, aroma, texture and temperature all play a role in sweet cider quality, but the two most important factors in its flavor are sweetness and acidity.
Acidity and sweetness are not stable factors in fruit. In sweet cider, acidity generally ranges from a pH of 3.1 to 3.8. Sweetness can vary quite a bit.
“It might be in your interest to measure pH and Brix when you make cider, especially if one year you taste your cider and it was like, ‘This is great,’ but the next year you use the same mix and it doesn’t really turn out the same,” he said.
Many factors affect the ratio of acidity and sweetness in fruit. Storage duration is one. Rain can dilute sweetness, especially if it falls before harvest. Trees that were heavily cropped the previous year might not store enough carbohydrates to give the expected sweetness the following year, he said.
“The main point you’re looking for is the ratio between sweetness and acidity,” Krishna Kumar said. “If there’s any particular year where you’ve made great cider, usually if you have the ratio, and if you try to hit that ratio every year, you’ll probably be making cider that tastes very similar year to year.”
—by Matt Milkovich
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