A consumer acceptability study was conducted to determine acceptability of ciders fortified with endogenous and exogenous tannins as availability of high-tannin cider apples is limiting cider market growth. The results indicate positive consumer preferences for cider fortified with tannin from apple and non-apple sources and consumers’ willingness to pay an additional premium for these products. There are no commercially available apple-derived tannins. Apple pomace, rich in tannins, is an unexploited waste product. Optimized extraction and concentration trials were conducted to determine conditions for enhanced phenolic recovery from pomace, yielding 41 °Brix concentrates with 1.3-2.4% tannins. Ciders prepared with a Red Delicious and Dabinett high-tannin concentrate received positive overall liking scores and showed insignificant changes other than phenolic augmentation.
Pomace for tannin production should be low in acidity, and moderate-to-high in fermentable sugars. At typical dosage applications, the increased cost to each 750 mL unit of cider would be $0.12-0.24.