Then it goes through “hot extraction” (juicing), filtration, and then concentration, which is a process like distillation (more heat) where the water is boiled off. The juice is then treated with enzymes for 30 to 90 minutes, which break down those viscous compounds in regular juice. After milling, the pulp is heated to 190☏ or higher. The processed track looks a lot different.

(The latter product is new and offered on the request of cideries.) It’s cloudy and viscous-the rustic sweet cider you’d buy at a farm stand. For the unprocessed products, the milled apples are then pressed and either pasteurized or sold unpasteurized. The product lines then diverge, going toward unprocessed juicing or processing. That’s exactly what you’d find in any traditional cidery. When apples come to FruitSmart, the process for all products begins the same way: the fruit is inspected, washed, and milled or pulped.

FruitSmart is not principally a supplier to cider makers, but they have lately started getting requests, and Chambers was at CiderCon in Portland, Oregon to explain what the different products were and how they’re processed. I had never really put a lot of thought into how juice is concentrated until I sat in on a session at CiderCon – an industry conference – with Terry Chambers, President and GM of FruitSmart, a company that prepares and sells apple juice and apple juice concentrate (AJC) in Yakima.

Apple juice vs cider