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A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 16 october 2017

$ 10

Vermont cider-makers forage for old wild apple flavor

der making past. Of the from farms and old or-
estimated 700 craft cider- chards, it also has an an-
makers in the United States, nual community apple
at least two dozen are us- drive where residents bring
ing foraged wild apples in in their backyard fruit and
at least one of their ciders, get cider or juice in return.
said Michelle McGrath, Wildcraft then produces a
executive director of the batch of community drive
United States Association cider.
of Cider Makers. Last year, about 46,000
“It’s a growing trend,” that pounds of fruit came in,
started in the last couple of “which was amazing. So
years, she said. that was really exciting,”
What cider-makers are said Amy Marx of Wildcraft.
seeking are tannins and The goal for Shacksbury,
acidity in the wild apples which sells its ciders around
which are no good to the country, and its special-
eat, but add complexity ty ciders through its cider
to cider. They taste so bit- club, is to find the best wild
tersweet or sharp, they’re apples and propagate
called the “spitters” in the their own trees from the
cider world. wild ones.
In this Oct. 4, 2017, photo, Colin Davis, co-founder of Shacksbury Cider, loads wild apples into a “This focus is founded on It has a registry for landown-
cider press in Vergennes, Vt. As the craft cider industry continues its resurgence with not enough the belief that early Ameri- ers to notify them of the fla-
commercial cider apples available, some cider makers are foraging for wild apples that have cans drank history’s best vors and number of trees.
links to the country’s early cider making history. cider,” according to the On a recent day, someone
(AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press
ROCHESTER, Vt. (AP) — With
a vigorous shake of a tree
limb, small wild apples rain
down onto a plastic tarp
at an old farmstead in Ver-
mont.
David Dolginow, co-found-
er of Shacksbury Cider, and
a colleague then collect
the yellow-skinned fruit in
milk crates.
In their quest for the best In this Oct. 3, 2017 photo, David Dolginow, co-founder of
apples to make hard cider, Shacksbury Cider, picks up wild apples in Rochester, Vt.
they’ve hunted for heri- (AP Photo/ Lisa Rathke)
tage wild apples on moun- family-owned Aaron Burr dropped off several paper
tain roadsides, in the thick- Cidery, in Wurtsboro, New grocery bags full of apples
ets of old pastures, and in York, which uses its own ci- for Shacksbury to try, with a
backyards — with the ho- der apples as well as locally guess at what variety they
meowners’ permission of grown and foraged wild were — Baldwin.
course — through its Lost apples to produce what it From its samplings, it pro-
Apple Project. calls “true cider.” duces a Lost and Found
“In the search for the pinot Wild apple cider is unfil- cider and fermentations
noir of apples, we’ll go far tered so in general it’s a named after the areas
and wide,” Doginow said. little cloudy and the taste is where the apples we’re
As the craft cider industry diverse. It tends to be more harvested as well as some
continues its yearslong re- floral, have a tartness and single varietals.
surgence and not enough leave a drying sensation in “It’s already not a great
commercial cider apples the mouth, said Andy Bren- way to make money —
available, some cider- nan of Aaron Burr Cidery. shaking wild trees — but
makers are foraging old Wildcraft Cider Works in you know it’s a labor of love
wild apples that have links Eugene, Oregon, not only and it’s interesting,” said
to the country’s early ci- harvests wild apples itself Colin Davis, co-founder.q