Hard Cider Part 2
Hard Cider Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.
The hard cider industry is still in its infancy. As with any fledgling industry there have been some kinks that needed to be worked out and a big one is the supply of raw apples that make up the cider. Karen Mauden with the Northwest Agriculture Business Center says the kinds of apples used in cider production are not really good eating or what the industry calls, dessert apples.
MAUDEN: But when you take that juice from that apple that isn't pretty and doesn't taste good as a fresh eating apple and you ferment it and put it into cider it's a wonderful product with many, many characteristics.
The bulk of the fruit industry in the northwest and around the world is focused on eating apples, pears, cherries and more.
MAUDEN: We want them to see there's an alternative here for their growing and that the inputs involved with this growing - the fertilizers and the other type of things they use, the other chemicals in creating a beautiful, visually appealing apple - they don't have to have those inputs. So they have a reduced cost of production
An upcoming workshop, "Hard Cider from Orchard to Shelf" will be held on March 18th at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake.
MAUDEN: We want to show them where the people are that want to buy this and a lot of these buyers happen to be in Washington and Oregon because they are the juice processors. They are some of the end point where some of this might go.
Register online at agbizcenter.org.
That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
