Medlar fruit in cider making

[Kevin Gunn]

Hi - I am a new member, and this season will be my first attempt at
cider-making. Having read Andrew Lea's description of the ideal cider
juice I can see that my mixture of cooking and dessert apples will
probably be low on tannin levels. I am fortunate to have a large
medlar tree - which I can attest from experience has high tannin
levels! Do members think that they would be a useful addition to my
cider blend? Kevin

[Andrew Lea]

Well worth a try I'd say. Problem I'd think is that they are not very
juicy so maybe you could steep them in the apple juice for a few days at
the beginning of fermentation to get the tannin out? I've seen a number
of recipes for various medlar wines and most of them involved treating
the fruit with boiling water first to break the cells down.

An interesting challenge!

Andrew

--
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk

[Peter Ellis]

I see from their Croatian flyer that Lidl have got a 60L shredder next
week for around UKP100.From experience they usually show up in the UK a
week or two earlier, so it may be a current offer there, if anyone is
interested.
http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_13339.htm

Cheers

--
Peter Ellis

Porec Sales Office
Croatia Property Services
A trading name of Peter Ellis Grupa d.o.o.
Selling in the new Tuscany!

Tel +385 (0) 92 247 5879

peter...@croatiapropertyservices.com

in...@croatiapropertyservices.com

http://www.croatiapropertyservices.com
http://croatiaproperty.proboards16.com

[Kevin Gunn]

Thanks Andrew,

I think I'll experiment with a few medlars this weekend.
See how much juice I can extract, and then at what dilution rate rate
with water I can still taste the tannin.
Will also try your suggestion of boiling some of the crushed fruit as
well to see if that yields a 'better' material for blending.

Kevin

[Farmer]

Would it not be easier to use a large pot of cold tea to add tannin? I
know it makes quite a nice wine on it's own so should be OK.

[Michael]

The use of Medlar and especially Speierling juice as additives to
Hessiche Apfelwein is common here. The juice of still firm Speierling
fruit is extremely tannic - once you have bitten on this fruit you
will never ever do it again! I'm not so sure that Medlar is in the
same league though. They are certainly acidic but I'm not so sure that
that is what you want.

I did produce a nice tasting Apfelwein with this addition though as I
also have a large and still growing bush in my garden. I boiled up a
kg of crudely chopped firm medlars with a little water for around 5
minutes only, my intention was to sterilise the fruit and then added
this to a 60l tank full of freshly pressed apple juice (a mixture of 8
local varieties). Later on after the fermentation was largely complete
I had to remove the floating crud with a sieve.

It was initially very acidic but later mellowed with an interesting
fruit taste and many people liked it. I also hear that when they have
it, it is popular at Schuch's Apple Restaurant in Praunheim (near
Frankfurt).

Good luck, Michael

[Kevin Gunn]

Thanks Michael,

You bring back some very pleasant memories of drinking apfelwein in
Sachsenhausen in 2001/2...
I will try to use some of the fruit. My medlar tree is probably more
than 50 years old and produces 100s of fruits each year - so it would
be nice to be able to incorporate them into the blend somehow...

Kevin

[Stephen Hayes]

medlars will not usually be ripe until at least October. They should be left
on the tree as long as possible and then stored until they go soft, then
they are ready. I strongly discourage you from using them now, assuming you
are in the northern hemisphere, let them ripen properly!

you won't squeeze any juice out of them either, too small and hard, not
juicy at all. Need to boil and strain

regards

Stephen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kevin Gunn" <kevin...@me.com>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 8:06 AM
To: "Cider Workshop" <cider-w...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Cider Workshop] Re: Medlar fruit in cider making

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[Havenswift]

Hi

Has anyone tried something like this and if so with what sort of
results ? I would have thought that it would be difficult to clean.

Thanks
Ian

On Aug 19, 7:31 pm, Peter Ellis

<peter.el...@croatiapropertyservices.com> wrote:
> I see from their Croatian flyer that Lidl have got a 60L shredder next
> week for around UKP100.From experience they usually show up in the UK a
> week or two earlier, so it may be a current offer there, if anyone is
> interested.  http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_13339.htm
>
> Cheers
>
> --
> Peter Ellis
>
> Porec Sales Office
> Croatia Property Services
> A trading name of Peter Ellis Grupa d.o.o.
> Selling in the new Tuscany!
>
> Tel  +385 (0) 92 247 5879
>

> peter.el...@croatiapropertyservices.com
>
> i...@croatiapropertyservices.com
>
> http://www.croatiapropertyservices.comhttp://croatiaproperty.proboards16.com

[swilly]

Has anyone tried tea? I would imagine elderberries would be an easier
source of tannin than medlars.

David

> > > Wittenham Hill Cider Pagehttp://www.cider.org.uk- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Vicky]

I would also recommend picking from the tree rather than the ground as
if damp they easily go mouldy and develop a musty flavour. We've made
medlar wine and jelly but never added to cider. Note they have
several large seeds/pips so you will end up with quite a mass of waste
material, it's not a flavour I'd be too keen on in cider but no harm
experimenting. Perhaps an apple/medlar wine?

Vicky

[Kevin Gunn]

Thanks Stephen - had a good look at the fruit this weekend - have to
agree with you. Very hard, no juice and immature internal structure
[pips ony just forming] when compared with our apples. As this is my
first season I'll keep things simple. Kevin

On Aug 20, 2:26 pm, "Stephen Hayes" <hayes...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> medlars will not usually be ripe until at least October. They should be left
> on the tree as long as possible and then stored until they go soft, then
> they are ready. I strongly discourage you from using them now, assuming you
> are in the northern hemisphere, let them ripen properly!
>
> you won't squeeze any juice out of them either, too small and hard, not
> juicy at all. Need to boil and strain
>
> regards
>
> Stephen
>
> --------------------------------------------------

> From: "Kevin Gunn" <kevin.g...@me.com>

> >http://groups.google.com/group/cider-workshop?hl=en.- Hide quoted text -