I pressed what I think are Dolgo crabs yesterday, and when I tasted a sample I thought I might die–literally. Horrible, and after a few minutes thought I might have to drive to the ER. Felt like I was doing some sort of Jekyll and Hyde thing!! (Waited to long to take an acid reducer and drink some fluids.)
Anyway, I need to add it to my other apple must to lower the PH in it, and the increase in SG wouldn’t hurt either. The stuff looks so amazingly pink, though, and the taste had no resemblance of apples–even though they tasted tart but good fresh of the tree(?)
Anyone used crabs before with a PH of 2.0 and lived to tell about it?! That PH of 2.0 seems awfully low to me for any kind of apple. Anybody have Dolgo crabs and know the PH normal range?cider samples pink Dolgo|690x920
I have a Dolgo tree, but it’s only been in the ground a couple years and I haven’t let it bear any fruit yet. Maybe next year I’ll let you know if mine has a similar PH! My plan is to use it to add a bit of acid to the otherwise bland cider I get from the 20 ft tall Gala tree on my property.
Yes, Montana Ciderworks had a single variety Dolgo small batch cider which I thought was very good, and I am trialing Dolgo in my orchard, but so far I have no fruit to taste and test. It doesn’t seem to thrive on my property, though, and grows rather slowly, compared to many other varieties I am trialing. I am Zone3, but Hewes Virginia Crab is variety I am most excited about right now. I grafted a scion onto an older exhisting tree and it gave me six apples the following year! Everything else I grafted at the same time, has taken three years to fruit after grafting. And those little ping pong ball sized Hewes crabs were real flavor bombs. Perhaps the Dolgo is close to the same, or even better? Next year is the year I will finally see many of my the three year old grafts will give me fruit to taste, and I am looking forward to making some sider again next year as well.
I got some apples on a clarks limbertwig graft for this first time this fall. I think they might be good in cider, have an unusual bitter taste to them.
I will have plenty of low acidity apples and pears perhaps for blending. I think I like the English style of cider, dry and acidic, but I don’t really know what I am tallking about either. When blending apples and pears last year, and preparing for fermentation, I played witht adding malic acid powder and found I like a PH of around 3.2 best.
Dolgo and Hewe’s crab were about the only apples I got from my own orchard this year, as all the other trees took the year off. Dolgo was 19 brix and ripe mid August. Hewe’s was 22 brix and ripe mid September. I ended up putting them all in a blend of apples and juice I was able to scrounge from others sources for a 5 gallon cider batch still fermenting now. The crabs were probably only about 5% of the total juice, as both are still small trees. Dolgo definitely seems pretty low vigor.
I didn’t get a PH or any acid readings, but by taste buds, Dolgo wasn’t too extreme. Sure, they were tart far beyond dessert apple levels, but still edible to me. My 2 year old ate one too. Hewe’s was tart and a little more astringent but sweeter, also had lots of watercore.
