Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
knoxvillegardener

Apples: cider, juice, applesauce

knoxvillegardener
13 years ago

Hello!

A few questions about apples...

Certain apple varieties (e.g. Golden Russet) are said to be quite good for making cider.

How does one get apple "juice," as opposed to apple "cider?" Is it a difference in the characteristics of the apples? Is apple "juice" just a weaker version of apple "cider?" What's the deal here?

Applesauce: Apparently some varieties make better applesauce than others. What are some of the better varieties for making applesauce, particularly disease-resistant apple varieties?

Thanks!

Comments (3)

  • myk1
    13 years ago

    There's only one state that I know of in the US that differentiates between juice and cider. They say juice is filtered clear, cider is cloudy.
    You don't have to filter to get clear, a little pectic enzyme will clear cider quickly but there's a lot of waste and you are removing some of the healthy stuff (the pectin for one).

    Europe has the difference between juice and cider as unfermented and fermented. Fermented is "hard cider" in the US.

    So here it's up to you what you call it.

    To me "better" for applesauce is a little tart and cooks down easy. My niece likes my Arkansas Black sauce for taste but you could cook them forever and they'd never turn to sauce without a stick blender. She hates tart which is why she started giving me the apples from her old tree. So flavor is in the eye of the beholder.
    I think any apple that softens readily in storage would be a good candidate for cooking down easily. I've done Cortland (stays white as sauce) and McIntosh and they do good. Yellow Transparent and Lodi are said to be good sauce apples.

  • planatus
    13 years ago

    Cider is often made from a blend of apples, as well, at least the fancy artisan kind. Lots of antique varieties involved, though cider makers seem to pay attention if you have a good apple of any name.

    Enterprise is one of the disease resistant ones, and it just about jumps in the saucepot (Mcintosh background). Falls apart into applesauce in about 20 minutes, seriously. Also dries very well, go figure. And I do like them fresh, with peanut butter. Spicy, complex flavor gets a little better in storage.

    Of course, any apple will make good sauce. When you have bearing trees, you make applesauce and butter from the bruised ones and culls. So choose new varieties based on your primary purpose and ripening times.

  • girlbug2
    13 years ago

    Last autumn I did a scientific experiment on my family, a blindfolded taste test of 5 applesauces made from 5 different apples:Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, and one other which I forget.

    Each of us four preferred a different one. My favorite was Fuji, which is no surprise because they are my favorite fresh eating apple. My youngest son liked Granny Smith, Husband liked Golden Delicious (said it tasted the most like "normal" applesauce from a grocery store), older son liked Gala.

    I can see why Golden Delicious is *the* famous applesauce apple, because it cooks to mushy stage very quickly and went through the chinois lickety split. Granny smiths by far took the longest to soften and were the most work to mush through.

    So I conclude that the "best" apple for sauce is probably the same that you would consider the best for fresh eating. Unless of course you are also the cook and don't want to spend a lot of time making the sauce, in which case Golden Delicious wins.

    Did that help?

Sponsored
Ed Ball Landscape Architecture
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars30 Reviews
Exquisite Landscape Architecture & Design - “Best of Houzz" Winner