How to use crabapples

[HEW]

I pressed 3 gallons of Indian Summer crab apples. They give a brix of 18.5 and have a pH of 3.12. The tannins I could not measure, but they are no doubt through the roof -- very astringent, undrinkable juice, a great crab. Is there much experience with intense crab apples among the cider makers of this group? How do you use them? 

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Blend them with a sweet apple! By sweet I mean an apple that has very little titratable acidity.
I sometimes use Dolgo, which has similar properties. This year the TA of Dolgo was at 27 g/L malic, with SG at 1.070 (approx. 17Bx). Difficult to use more than 15% in a blend...
Claude

[Simon congreve]

I used an unidentifiable red fleshed crab apple which where sweet enough to eat with little tannin so possibly a hybrid. They were about 2" diameter. I used about 10 or 15 % but only because that seemed to be the documented norm. They had a bit of an earthy smell to the juice.

[Andrew Lea]

On 18/09/2013 22:06, Simon congreve wrote:
> I used an unidentifiable red fleshed crab apple which where sweet enough to eat with little tannin so possibly a hybrid.

I think it's worth being clear about the multiple and different meanings
of the word 'crab' on this list

1. A wilding apple, a seedling of Malus domestica usually from a
discarded eaten apple.

2. A true species crab apple. In the UK that's the extremely rare wild
(or very occasionally planted) Malus sylvestris. Most people have never
seen one. They have very small yellow fruit.

3. An ornamental apple, not pure Malus domestica, often from hybrid
Asian Malus species. Examples of this would be 'Siberian Crab', 'Golden
Hornet', 'John Downie', 'Dolgo Crab' etc. Some of these are red-fleshed
eg Geneva Crab. Many of these are either very acidic or very tannic or
both (but not always!)

4. A cultivar of Malus domestica which because of its habit or flavour
is (incorrectly) named 'crab'. Examples of those are 'Hagloe Crab', and
I believe 'Hughes Virginia Crab'.

Apples being apples of course, there are still some grey areas in between!


Andrew

--
Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
www.cider.org.uk

[Gary]

The United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Station Plant Genetics Research Unit (USDA ARS PGRU) lists "Indian Summer" as a  hybrid with no information available about parentage.  Acidity of hybrids varies wildly, reflecting both the variation in possible species in parentage and the usual variation you can get from a given parentage.  Most of the hybrids listed in the PGRU Malus catalog include at least one of the three native American species or Siberian crabapple, though there are others.  Various comments that can be seen online, such as how fruit of "Indian Summer" is favored by birds in the spring, suggest that acidity is very high and several freeze-thaw cycles and a notable amount of time are required to temper the acidity.   General advice such as Claude's makes sense but specific proportions will depend on a few factors:  How tart is this specific crabapple (at time of pressing)?  Little information about this specific fruit is available and you may need to gather your own experience here.   Also, how tart do you (or those with whom you'll be sharing the cider) prefer for it to be?  If you have a fondness for the sort of cider that can remove the enamel from your teeth then take a chance and use a little more.  How long will it age, and under what conditions?  Thomas Family Winery in Madison, Indiana currently has a cider made with 30% crabapple (they normally use about 20% crabapples).  As Steve Thomas described the evolution of the cider (to the best of my recollection), "The first year we thought we'd made a big mistake, it was so tart, and we set it aside."  In this case it was stored in used wine barrels.  "The second year it wasn't as bad and we thought it might not be a total disaster."  Sounds like it may have undergone a significant malolactic fermentation.  "The third year we were amazed at what it had become and we decided to bottle it."  

 

Gary

[greg l.]

I use crabs from seedlings of John Downie I planted about 15 years ago, before I knew anything about cider apples. John Downie itself bears apples that have high brix and acidity, but are fairly small. Most of the seedlings have bigger apples, but the trees are very variable. Some produce bright red fruit, some green with red blush, right through to bright yellow. Time of ripening varies from early to late, they all have some furry tannins but the amount varies. Generally the smaller ones are more astringent, but I have never found the juice too bitter to drink, because the sugar levels are high. The flavour is variable, one tree has fruit that taste of honey. I have made cider 100% from the early fruit, it is quite decent though not as fruity as my late cider. I have tested fruit from other unidentified seedlings, it tastes fine and I doubt if a crab would ever have objectionable flavours (apart from bitterness). They do make a decent substitute for proper bittersweet apples, and because the acidity is usually high they are good for blending with low-acid fruit.

Greg