What is sustainable agriculture, and who are the innovators among the many people who label their practices “sustainable”?
These were the questions that motivated me to attend the 28th annual Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in early February, the same day as Leah Lizarondo presented the keynote address, “Waste Not: The Moral Disconnect Between Food Waste & Hunger.” She is co-founder and CEO of Pittsburgh-based 412 Food Rescue and the kind of innovator I was seeking.
A petite, smartly dressed business woman, she gave a powerful, TED-style talk and shared this staggering statistic: 40% of the food produced gets wasted. 412 Food Rescue – aptly named for Pittsburgh’s telephone area code – uses smart-phone technology to muster a network of volunteers that picks up fresh fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste and delivers this produce to nonprofit partners serving those with food insecurity.
Through Hidden Harvest, 412 Food Rescue’s urban gleaning program, more than 300 volunteers a year gather 10,500 pounds of produce throughout the growing season from public and privately owned trees, orchards, farms and gardens. A percentage of the harvest, mostly inedible fruits like crab apples, goes into products that generate awareness and funding support – including 412 City Cider, a hard cider produced in collaboration with Threadbare Cider House & Meadery in Pittsburgh.
Threadbare was started in 2016 by Wigle Whiskey, a Pittsburgh distiller, around the time 412 Food Rescue was launching Hidden Harvest. The name “Threadbare” is based on the legacy of Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, the vagabond, early 19th century nurseryman who famously walked from Massachusetts to western Pennsylvania and beyond introducing apple trees. Apples from those trees were destined to become cider, a safer beverage to drink in those days than water. Most communities in America had their own cider press.
412 City Cider
Of the dozen ciders Threadbare
produces, 412 City Cider is the one most closely related to Johnny Appleseed’s
trees.
The cider is made from 3,500 pounds of crab and other wild apples foraged by 412 Food Rescue from approximately 600 urban trees. The apples are pressed at Godfrey Run Orchard in Lake City, Pennsylvania, and blended with other tart apples gathered by volunteers.
Crab apples are low in sugar and high in acid and tannin (compounds that derive from skins, stems and seeds, and cause a drying sensation in the mouth). Yeast and a small amount of sugar are added to the bottle to produce carbonation. But unlike sparkling wine made in the traditional method, 412 City Cider is not disgorged.
“As the yeast breaks down it helps to enhance the cider’s mouthfeel and the overall complexity,” the tech sheet states. “The result is a sparkling dry cider with earthy tannic structure, sharp acidity and an alcohol level per volume of 6.2%.”
I found the cider well balanced – with just enough fresh apple fruitiness and grippy mouthfeel to pair with savory chicken sausage and roasted root vegetables.
Recently, I caught up with Brian Bolzan, head of production at Threadbare and head cider maker, to ask him about 412 City Cider. He was happy for geeky cider talk, especially as the data show most consumers can’t identify any cider brand.
“We’re where craft beer was back in the ‘80s,” he noted.
What’s your style and process for making cider?
We approach cider production as you would wine. We use white-wine techniques and the same aromatic yeast cultures used for white wines like Moscato and Chardonnay. We filter and add a dosage of sugar and yeast for stability in the bottle, but we don’t disgorge. We rest the cider on the lees [spent yeast], taking it all the way dry with a cool fermentation (57 to 59 degrees) for one to two weeks in stainless-steel tanks. We age for another two to three weeks in the bottle. For off-dry ciders, we arrest fermentation between 1% and 3% residual sugar, cool the tank, filter and pasteurize. We add minimal sulfites. These are wine-format ciders – approachable and drinkable – and trend more toward being acidic. Some yeast settles out and is left on the bottom of the bottle. We like the character they provide, but the cider can be decanted and poured off the lees. We encourage folks to age the ciders and see how the flavors evolve over time.
Does 412 City Cider require a different process than the others?
Crab apples really express flavor and provide a lot of tannin. For 412 City Cider, we’re using predominately crab apples and wild, uncultivated apples as well as apples from orchards that do not have the capacity to pick them. 412 Food Rescue is gleaning apples weekly – about 80 to 1,000 tons of apples every week. The cider press is doing multiple pressings to make the cider. July/August ripe apples won’t hold until the rest are ready in September/October. We ferment each pressing completely dry and blend them together after fermentation. A lot of trees are biennial – they’re heavy one year and light another year. No one is treating them chemically. 412 has quite a bit of lees-aging time – four months on the lees. This adds structure and varietal character to the cider.
How does 412 City Cider compare to your other ciders in quality, appearance and taste?
412 City Cider is a deeper and darker color than the other ciders. Because of the tannins, the crab apples have a pinkish-red juice and deep golden, almost copper color. As tannins oxidize [think: cutting an apple and leaving it open to the air], they have a browning effect that visually adds to the experience. A lot of ciders are pale – there’s not a huge range in color variation. We use 750-ml bottles – gearing toward the wine crowd. A bottle is meant to be shared or you can find other ways to reseal it for a couple of days. This is sparkling or petulant apple wine, not cider beer or a beer alternative. We use crown closures and only sell bottles to go. We encourage cider to be consumed with food – it’s an everyday drink that can be enjoyed for a special occasion or regular occasion. We’re trying to disconnect it from seasonality.
How do customers react when they learn the apples are gleaned from city trees?
It’s been a positive experience – especially this year. Jonathan and Jonathan Gold apples were blended into the 412 City Cider this year. There’s both tannin and acidity to it, all in balance. Previously, it was quite a bit tannic and funkier. This cider drinks a little more American. The expression has tropical characteristics – pineapple and mineral notes from the fruit – and it’s food-friendly. It’s dry but the tropical fruity note pairs well with [for example] cured meats. It’s more expensive than others, because we donate a percentage of proceeds to support the 412 Food Rescue mission. It’s neat once you can tell the story – crab apples actually make for tasty hard cider. A lot of the apples in this cider are from that Johnny Appleseed era.
What’s needed for other cities and cider producers to follow your example?
Access is the biggest thing. Not everyone is planting crab apples, and not every crab apple is the same. They can be overbearing for cider. It takes experience to blend a crab apple if you’re used to blending cider-specific or culinary apples. Other producers in the Northeast are doing foraged ciders and wild apples, trending down from the natural wine folks. This trend will grow as people get more interested in biodynamic and natural wine development. I encourage anyone in cider-making to do something unique – the results are great if you put in the time and try to figure out what you’ve got. 412 Food Rescue is looking to expand into other cities as well – especially those with a similar population dynamic and sense of community – so we may get a chance to taste the terroir of other urban apples, whether in Cleveland or even New York.
© Linda Whipple, CSW. All rights reserved.