1.060 crab apples!

[GeneDaniels1963]

I just juiced 2 lbs of frozen crabs to add to some store-bought juice for a batch of cider. I could not hardly believe the grav reading, 1.060. I tasted it and wow, it was sweet! Never realized they were that sweet.

 

[gregbathurst]

When you consider how small crabapples are it isn't surprising they are very sweet. They are also generally high in tannin and acid. Smaller volume means the sugar is more concentrated, when you bite into one all you notice is the bitter astringent tannins, but when you juice them you can taste the sugar.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

They make a great addition to store bought juices. The cider is much better with them.

 

[Maylar]

A fellow at work has a crabapple tree that he said produced thousands of little apples last year but some fungus got to the tree this year and he got very few. He's gonna spray the tree next year and hopefully get better numbers. He gave me a couple samples, and they're certainly edible with some juice and a bit of acid tartness. Not sure what kind of yield could be had from these but with a big bucket of them there'd be something anyway.

Dunno what variety they are, they're about the size of a grape:

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Right now I am wild harvesting them from a tree near the highway. But last spring I planned a Doglo crab tree, so in a couple of years I should have my own. I can't wait until I have enough to make a batch of pure crab apple cider!

Also, I am planting an Arkansas Black tree this fall. They are known to make a fantastic single-veriatal cider. But that will be 3-4 years from now at best.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I thought you said the one near the highway was getting removed. ( could be wrong about who said this )

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

It will sooner or later because of a road widening project. But for now it is still standing, so I should get another crop off it this fall.

 

[Chalkyt]

Yep, the sweetness pretty much lines up with my experience. The juice isn't as "unpleasant" as I thought it might be. I have a Crimson Knight crabapple tree that has been in the ground for a few years now, and last year produced enough fruit to add 10% to a 1 gallon batch of other apples. They look a bit like the ones in Maylar's pic.

Up until now I haven't had enough fruit to press sufficient juice to measure with a hydrometer. I now have a refractometer which suggests that local wild crabs are 1.060 and my Crimson Knights are 1.080.

I think that making a single variety Crimson Knight cider would be very worthwhile. I only had 30% juice yield from the crabs (compared with 50-55% from some other types of apple) so I will need to wait until I can get 8-10 kg of the crabs before trying this.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

wow, 1.080! that is really amazing. I had no idea crabs could be that sweet. Sounds like it would be a great cider with even 25-30% of those in the mix.

How did you like your cider with 10% of them in it?

 

[ten80]

wow, 1.080! that is really amazing. I had no idea crabs could be that sweet. Sounds like it would be a great cider with even 25-30% of those in the mix.

How did you like your cider with 10% of them in it?

Crab apples are often very high in acid and tannins, so even 10% use may overpower the base apple juice. I have access to crabs that yield about 1.076 juice and 100% crab cider is completely undrinkable, but 5-10% added to "bland," sweet eating apples helps make a more complex cider.