January 2022 - 8

CIDER
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
varieties have been slower to reach net
profitability, but Zakalik said chemical
thinning would have a projected net
increase in profitability for all seven
cider cultivars he's studying in year
four. Five of the seven - Binet Rouge,
Brown Snout, Dabinett, Harry Masters
Jersey and Michelin - responded well
to hand-thinning, having a projected
net increase in profitability by year
four. Two varieties projected to be
unprofitable to hand-thin, regardless of
crop load, are Chisel Jersey and Geneva
Tremlett's Bitter. In the study, nine fruit
per cm2 of trunk cross-sectional area
(TCSA) was the most profitable crop
load studied, and six fruit per cm2
TCSA was only profitable for Dabinett.
Zakalik noted several limitations to the
microbudget - one being the relevance of
farm gate prices. Most high-tannin fruit
goes into the growers' own cider products.
" An important limitation of our
work is that we were looking at a highdensity
'tall-spindle' system with a dwarf
rootstock, but many growers are planting
their trees in a lower-density planting
with more vigorous rootstocks, he added.
" So we don't know how our results will
translate to a different system. "
The right stuff
Recognizing that most of the specialty
apple varieties are grown for their tannins,
aka polyphenols, used during the cider
making process, Zakalik also studied how
thinning adjusted the cumulative " tannin
yield " of the trees.
In four years of being thinned to nine
fruit per cm2 TCSA, all the thinned trees
are projected to produce more total tannin
content and yield weight. But reaching that
point took time - in the first three years,
only two of the seven varieties - Dabinett
and Harry Masters Jersey - showed an
increased yield in tannins.
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Cornell University's David Zakalik speaks at
the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm
Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Photos: Stephen Kloosterman
Apple trees that bear only biennially
will reduce the long-term cumulative
yields of the apples. Apple trees that
bear too much fruit in one season, will
negatively impact the quality of the juice.
Zakalik noted that the number of
apples per tree doesn't necessarily equate
to the amount of tannins produced, so
it's important not to over- or under-thin.
" The industry really needs an
annual-bearing Tannin bomb cultivar,
that is annual bearing, it's rich in tannins
so you don't need a lot of acreage to
get a lot of tannin, " Zakalik said. Lateblooming
English and French varieties
can be susceptible to fire blight.
Survey says ...
Zakalik's work included a 2021 survey
of nearly 200 commercial cideries, 90%
of whom were small-to-medium size,
and about 75% of whom did have a
taproom or a tasting room. Sixty-eight
percent of the respondents did have
bitter apple varieties, and 17% did plan
to have them in the future. The leading
reason the growers had for not using
bitter varieties was the availability.
While most non-growers said
biennial-bearing varieties wasn't
Bittersharp apples such as Geneva Tremlett are prized by cider makers for their acidity
and tannins.
bothering them, 84% of growers said it
was. Among the growers in the survey,
46% were not doing any thinning.
Growers had very few large plantings,
however, many of the growers were
growing between 11-20 different cider
varieties, experimenting to find what
worked best.
" Your variety selection is really
important, and hopefully this hard
data that we've found will be helpful to
growers to make an informed decision
about what variety they want to take
a chance on, or expand their planting
of, " Zakalik said. " If you're going to try
thinning, you need to think over the
long term, multiple years. But then,
sometimes thinning isn't worthwhile,
either, because a variety's too biennial
or because it's an off year. But thinning
can reduce your biennial-ism, and it can
improve your yields over four years in
certain cases. And thinning will improve
juice quality, particularly tannin content,
overall. "
" Inconsistent yield, inconsistent
supply, is a real challenge. If you're
going to try to sell these varieties,
you want to have a sort of established
relationship. Make sure that you know
you're going to be able to supply some
fruit to your buyer. "
Sharing a resource
Also at the Great Lakes Fruit,
Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO,
Brighid O'Keane of the Cider Institute
of North America spoke briefly about
the group's work to create resources for
professional cider makers.
The institute, formed in 2016 with
board members from around the U.S.,
has developed courses for education.
Roughly 300 individuals have completed
a " Foundation Certificate " program for
cider and perry production. A more
advanced certification program is also
being developed.
The institute has developed an
easy-to-use reference tool, a wheel that
allows cider makers to look up 15 of
the most common flaws in cider. It also
established a website, ciderpros.com, that
lists equipment for sale as well as jobs in
the industry, and developed a handbook.
Future plans include an introduction
to cider making class, skills-based
advanced resources, resources on cider
economics and a cider-specific lab
manual. FGN
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January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2022
