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Contact:
Olav Diaper
Address:
Inner Diaper, 5776 Now
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Alde is an old name for apples in Hardanger and here on the farm apples have been grown since the fruit arrived in the fjord. Pressing to make apple juice also goes back a long way. But the juice was then a fresh product that only the farm people were allowed to drink for a few days, before it was turned into cider. Today I pasteurize the fresh juice at 78°C and cool it down quickly to keep the fresh taste so that you can enjoy it like the lucky few got in the old days.
When the days get short and the yellow leaves come to the hillside, the apples are ready for harvest. Here on the farm I have Gravenstein, Discovery and Aroma. These varieties are perfect for cider and each contribute their own unique character. I carefully pick them when they are sweet enough and press them into apple juice. I fill the juice into large steel tanks with a layer of sugar and yeast.
Once the fermentation has started, I lower the temperature and wait anxiously for a few months. This way the cider develops slowly but surely, while maintaining its fresh apple aroma. In the spring, when all the cider tanks have fermented, I call together good friends with good tasters and we taste our way to a mixture that is balanced between acidity and sweetness, fruitiness and fresh zest. I add a little carbonation to make it sparkling and then bottle and barrel.