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Michigan State University
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Cider: The hard way!
By: Shantanu Kelkar,
Graduate Student, Biosystems Engineering andKirk Dolan,
Assistant Professor, PhD., Biosystems Engineering & Food Science and Human NutritionHard cider refers to an alcoholic apple beverage. It is manufactured by fermenting apple juice, a process similar to wine making.
History
Although hard cider is popular in Europe, it was reintroduced to the American market only in 1990. The product was consumed widely in the 18th and 19th centuries in the U.S., particularly along the East Coast. Hard cider came to the U.S. with the first English settlers, who brought apple seeds with them to plant in their new home. Most of the apple crop was used for the production of hard cider. In fact, in 1767, the per capita consumption of hard cider in Massachusetts is estimated to have been about 40 gallons per person annually!
Hard cider was a family drink in colonial America. Many people, even children, drank hard cider with meals. President John Adams was known to drink a pint of hard cider each morning to settle his stomach. Fermented cider sometimes offered a safe alternative to water because the alcohol prevented bacterial contamination. Cider mills were common throughout New York and New England. Families even kept barrels of cider in their basements.
Cider remained a popular beverage until the Civil War when beer began to take its place in the American market. The influx of German immigrants to the U.S. boosted the popularity of beer. Beer was cheaper and easier to produce than hard cider and therefore, it was more attractive to produce commercially. Early in the 20th century, Prohibition dealt the final blow to hard cider’s popularity in the U.S. until its recent resurgence.The American Apple Industry
Michigan had 40,000 acres of apple orchards in 2003, and apple production was valued at $100 million. Growers harvest between 20 million and 25 million bushels of apples annually. Today, the demand in the U.S. for apple juice and cider exceeds, by far, that for fresh apples. However, in recent years, China has become a major world apple juice producer and a significant supplier to the U.S. market. China has affected the demand for Michigan apples, leading to excess apple production in Michigan. Therefore, Michigan apple growers are looking at ways to utilize their excess apples through manufacture of value-added products, such as hard cider.
Since 1990, the U.S. market has grown rapidly every year with over 4.6 million cases of hard cider sold nationally today, and is expected to exceed 75 million cases in the next ten years. Michigan is one of the nation's leading producers of apples. Most of the infrastructure needed to create a hard cider industry already exists. Trends in the wine and microbrewery industries suggest that locally produced high-quality products are being accepted and sought after by consumers. With this in mind, numerous cider mills and microbreweries across the state are entering the hard cider business. The local hard cider market has been a small but growing one. Hard cider thus provides an important potential value-added product for Michigan apple producers.
Why Hard Cider Research?
Many people who do not regularly drink alcohol enjoy hard cider, due to its fruity flavor and low alcohol content. Within this population, studies have shown that females prefer the pleasant flavor of hard cider to beer. Research also suggests that drinking cider may be good for health, as cider is rich in antioxidants known as polyphenols. Antioxidants may help stop cell damage, prevent cancer and degenerative diseases like dementia.
Traditionally, European hard cider is made from bittersweet or bittersharp ‘cider’ apples. Polyphenols present in cider apples are responsible for mouthfeel characteristics such as the astringency, and bitter flavor generally associated with fermented beverages. Michigan does not grow cider apples. Michigan apples are sweet and classified as ‘dessert’ apples.
MSU Hard Cider Research
Dessert apples have lower levels of polyphenols than cider apples. Hence, to make quality hard cider from Michigan apples, it is necessary to study and understand the hard cider fermentation process as well as consumer needs. As this project is multidisciplinary in nature, we collaborate with faculty and students from various departments. Key people involved in this project include Dr. Patrick Oriel, Professor Emeritus in Microbiology; Dr. Janice Harte, Assistant Professor in Food Science; Dr. Bridget Behe, Professor in Horticulture; Patrick O'Connor, Doctoral candidate at the MSU Business School; Mavis Tan and Darclee Sidona Popa, graduate students in Food Science. We are also grateful to Mike Beck of Uncle John's Cider Mill for his technical support and assistance in acquiring cider samples. The Michigan Apple Committee, USDA Rural Development and Uncle John's Cider Mill have generously supported this research project.
As Biosystems Engineers, we are evaluating various processing techniques for hard cider production. We are also studying the change in alcohol content, sugar, nitrogen, pH, yeast cell concentration and polyphenols as fermentation progresses. By using mathematical modeling techniques, we can use our data to scale-up from lab scale to commercial production. For example, such models would help cider makers to predict the effect of sugar and nitrogen addition on the progress of fermentation and quality of final product. Our research will contribute to a better understanding of hard cider manufacturing as well as help cider makers improve the quality and quantity of cider production. Data from experiments in our labs can be used by American cider makers for scale-up and manufacture of hard cider on a large scale.
Outreach Activities
Outreach and Consumer Taste-testing StudiesA significant part of our work involves community outreach activities and understanding consumer needs. Work from this research has been presented in 2003 and 2004 at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetables and Farm Market Expo as well as the 2004 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. Through cider symposiums and taste-testing sessions at many locations in Michigan from Grand Rapids to Frankenmuth and Ann Arbor, we have educated the public about the various aspects of cider making from Michigan apples. Such meetings also serve as a means for local apple growers, brewers and vintners to clarify technical issues and have their questions answered by MSU researchers.
To help identify consumer preferences, taste-testing studies with over 200 panelists in 6 different locations in Michigan were conducted last year to compare MSU cider with other commercially available varieties. Participants were asked to taste, smell and visually evaluate several alcoholic drink samples, including hard cider, wine and beer. Consumers were told only that they were evaluating alcoholic beverages in the study. Even though the cider project is still in its early stages, MSU hard cider made from Michigan dessert apples compared very favorably with commercially available hard ciders in terms of clarity, sweetness, flavor and overall acceptability.
Another taste-testing study is currently underway to evaluate acceptability and to educate the Michigan consumer about cherry cider. Cherry cider is a blend of MSU hard cider and fermented cherry juice. This study too, is being conducted in conjunction with various beer and wine tasting clubs in Michigan.
The demands of the American apple industry and consumers and growing popularity of cider have created a need for a study of the engineering and science behind cider making. Our lab group, together with other researchers, works to fulfill this need of Michigan consumers, processors and apple growers. From being the popular drink in the 18th century to the becoming one of the fastest growing segments of the alcoholic beverage industry today, hard cider has come a long way.References
Fabricant, Florence “Apple Juice with Grown-Up Fizz.” The New York Times,
January 29, 1997.
Miller, Malinda "Apple Industry Profile", Agricultural Marketing Resource Center,
Iowa State University, November 2004
Rowles, Kristin "Processed Apple Product Marketing Analysis: Hard Cider & Apple Wine", Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New YorkHolz-Clause, Mary "Hard Cider Industry Profile", Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University, November 2003
Anonymous “Hard cider is expected to be the “microbrew” of the upcoming decade.” About Women & Marketing, Vol. 11, No. 9, September 1, 1998.
Lea, Andrew 'The Wittenham Hill Cider Portal'
Oliver, Marie "An apple cider renaissance", The Business Journal Portland, Dec 31, 2004
Gunningham, Paul 'The New Real Cider and Perry Page'
Apples and More, University of Illinois Extension
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