Hailing from the less than sunny climes of Greater Britannia both Capt'n and Wench have a thirst for the good Apple stuff.

CIDER

Yet for the longest time now we have been suffering a real druth when it comes to finding a passable New Zealand made cider. The brewers here don't have the hundreds of years of cider making tradition of far up North to fall back on meaning that most of them seem to be able to make nothing more than Apple flavoured sugar water that was brewed in 6 weeks before being flogged on the market for some quick bucks.
This is something that we do find a little strange as New Zealand has a long history and thriving industry regarding the cultivation of Apples. Yet it is also understandable as to make real good cider one must use the right kind of Apples. Apple varieties grown to eat, like Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala or Braeburn are not the right kind of Apples and New Zealand's market is all about growing Apples to eat. Cider Apple varieties on the other hand have names like Kingston Black, Brown Snout, Bulmer's Norman, Foxwhelp and Golden Russet.

While a ‘cider apple’ could be any apple that ends up in a cider, it’s a bit more instructive to ask what a cider-specific apple variety is. Cider-specific apples are, typically, those apple varieties that have been cultivated specifically for making into cider, and which have certain characteristics–high levels of acid, tannin, or sugar–which make them desirable for fermenting into cider. Also referred to as ‘spitters’ due to the astringency and bitterness imparted by their tannins, these apples are typically not desirable for eating (think of–or try!–the experience of biting into a crab apple straight off the tree as an example). But in a cider, they add color, body, mouthfeel, and–in the right proportion–balance to a cider that might otherwise be too thin, too sweet, or too one-dimensional in flavor.

Source: https://www.ciderschool.com/orcharding/apples/

Happily for us this situation seems to be changing as we have recently discovered Paynter's cider on sale at our local stupidmarket.

Paynter's Reserve pictured here with some of our homegrown cheery plum Tomatoes.

Another reason to celebrate. Our very own cider Apple trees have fruited this year. Hooray!
Two years ago the Capt'n received as a birthday gift three cider variety Apple trees. Unfortunately the labels have bleached in the sun and we have misplaced the order information. So we can only remember two of the varieties. Kingston Black and Slack Ma Girdle. The company these tree were purchased from can be found online at https://ediblegarden.co.nz/.

In a few more weeks we will be able to try and make our own home brewed cider. This is something we have done in the past but never with proper cider variety Apples. We have had mixed results with our past efforts. One year we made about 10 litres of Apple Cider Vinegar. Not so good for drinking but great for putting on salads.

Kingston Black cider Apples growing on the Pirate homestead.

For some more cider related content check out our Pirate Playlist post from a some months back.
https://steemit.com/music/@piratefoodco/pirate-playlist-i-never-smelled-nuffin-like-it-in-all-me-life/

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