Comparing Apples to Apples: Single Varietal Hard Apple Cider Testing

Growers from four orchards near Madison, Wisconsin provided 41 varieties of hard cider apples in the fall of 2017 for testing. Staff at the UW-Madison Food Science Fermentation Sciences Program pressed each variety separately and produced about a gallon of cider from each variety. Each single-varietal hard cider was tested in two ways to determine taste characteristics: first in the laboratory and then by at least one panel of tasters at four separate tastingevents held during the winter of 2017-18.