Something to ponder during the holidays.
Recently, I stumbled across an article that suggested apple peel contains more flavour compounds than the pulp, and asked the question ”‘why isn’t extra apple peel added to grinding and pressing” or even into primary fermentation in order to enhance the flavour of cider. Especially as extra skin may well be available as it is probably discarded in activities like pie making, fruit drying etc. and could be frozen until needed.
The suggestion was that freezing or microwaving the peel breaks down cells and makes polyphenols readily available to the yeasts. The biochemistry is way beyond me, but does the idea have merit?
We tend to discard the pomace (which probably contains much of the skin) and only work with the juice. So, has anyone added skin or pomace, dried apple, etc to their primary fermentation and noticed any worthwhile improvement in flavour or complexity.
To make the maths simple, assuming that the peeled skin is 1mm thick then this would be about 10% of the pulp. Would adding extra skin or even (say 10%) pomace be worthwhile. I guess that coring apples might have a similar effect as the core is about 10% of an apple.
What has prompted this train of thought is that down here we are getting towards the start of Autumn, and this year have an abundance of apples. But, we had a wet spring and early summer and there is the chance that the apples may end up a bit watery, low in SG, and lacking in flavour.
Any thoughts?
Recently, I stumbled across an article that suggested apple peel contains more flavour compounds than the pulp, and asked the question ”‘why isn’t extra apple peel added to grinding and pressing” or even into primary fermentation in order to enhance the flavour of cider. Especially as extra skin may well be available as it is probably discarded in activities like pie making, fruit drying etc. and could be frozen until needed.
The suggestion was that freezing or microwaving the peel breaks down cells and makes polyphenols readily available to the yeasts. The biochemistry is way beyond me, but does the idea have merit?
We tend to discard the pomace (which probably contains much of the skin) and only work with the juice. So, has anyone added skin or pomace, dried apple, etc to their primary fermentation and noticed any worthwhile improvement in flavour or complexity.
To make the maths simple, assuming that the peeled skin is 1mm thick then this would be about 10% of the pulp. Would adding extra skin or even (say 10%) pomace be worthwhile. I guess that coring apples might have a similar effect as the core is about 10% of an apple.
What has prompted this train of thought is that down here we are getting towards the start of Autumn, and this year have an abundance of apples. But, we had a wet spring and early summer and there is the chance that the apples may end up a bit watery, low in SG, and lacking in flavour.
Any thoughts?