Fabrication of apple juices and ciders

Cider and apple juice are not essential foods in terms of basic nutritional intake, even if they do contain micro-nutrients considered beneficial to health: polyphenols, vitamins and potassium. They can therefore be considered above all as "pleasure drinks". The hedonic components of quality are therefore essential to the consumer's purchasing decision, and will logically be the cider-maker's main objective.

Taste perceptions can, to some extent, be linked to biochemical composition. This is the case for sweet, sour and bitter flavors. The link between olfactory perceptions and the analysis of volatile compounds is less easy to establish, but certain trends can be identified by markers: this is notably the case for the main defects that have been clearly identified.

Analytical criteria that reflect flavors or mark an evolution are effectively taken into account in the objectives that are translated into internal product specifications and sometimes enshrined in legal definitions. Finally, the cider-maker wishes to preserve the product's qualities over time, i.e. to stabilize the cider in physico-chemical and microbiological terms. These objectives and constraints give rise to the production methods described in this chapter.

In addition to this rational description, it should be pointed out that sensory evaluation remains an indispensable tool, at least at the final assembly stage, for taking into account the overall hedonic quality of the finished product.