Sweet and sour

Sweet and sour

Getting closer to the source of a product is an area where niche suppliers such as Aspall mark themselves out as different from the rest.

There's a lot of noise these days about 'joined-up approach' or creating a 'holistic offering' and it's generally just that - noise; but at Aspall in Suffolk there's something incredibly real about how the company creates three different products from just one basic ingredient - apples.

The Chevallier Guild family runs a business that has a rich and long history of making cider, which it quaintly spells 'cyder', and actually live at Aspall Hall. The production plant is right on its doorstep.

The orchards on family land were planted in 1728 and cider production was started by a thirsty Clement Chevallier, who had emigrated from Jersey and was missing his favourite tipple. Since then there has been cider production of some sort or another on the site, making Aspall the oldest family cider maker in the country.

But it's not just the long running production that makes Aspall so interesting. The family's personal orchards have been organic since 1946, thanks to the tireless efforts of Perronelle Chevallier, who was converted to the cause by Lady Eve Balfour, founder of the Soil Association, so the fact that the company produces an organic cider, apple juice and vinegar is of no great surprise.

At a time when concerns about what's in food are at an all time high Aspall has a reassuringly fresh approach. Henry Chevallier Guild states: "We use the juice of whole pressed apples for everything, we don't use concentrates and we never will."
It all starts with the English apples, which are pre-blended prior to pressing; the base varieties are Cox and Bramley, but will be supplemented with varieties such as Egremont Russet, Discovery, Worcester Pearmain and Crispin throughout the season, meaning the end products will vary slightly in taste and colour throughout the year.

These are then sorted by hand after being delivered by truck in a great torrent on to a conveyor belt. The ones that make the grade are then cleaned and sent through to the pressing hall where two enormous screw-like devices press the apples to get the first product - juice.

From then on, it can be turned into cider vinegar and, of course, cider. Once the juice has been accepted it is pumped into a fermentation vat with a specific 'control' yeast to ferment the sugar present in apple juice into alcohol - cider. This method ensures that the quality and flavour is as consistent as it can be for a natural product.

Fermentation takes from two to three weeks and once it's complete the cider is racked and left to mature for at least four months, and some of it is then transferred to the vinegar production area, where it is stored in another vat prior to being fermented into vinegar.

Acid Reaction

Cider vinegar is made by allowing the cider to undergo a secondary fermentation. On this occasion the alcohol present in the vinegar is converted into acetic acid - vinegar. The company uses two methods to make the vinegar but the general gist is that a vinegar culture is added to the cider and the acetobacter present in the culture eats the alcohol present in the liquid, and the result of this natural process is acetic acid - vinegar.

Once the alcohol content of the vinegar is reduced to below 0.4%, the liquid is pumped into a maturation vat where again the vinegar is matured for at least four months.

Aspall supplies its products to a variety of different food companies as an ingredient, and celebrity chefs from Jamie Oliver to Sophie Grigson have expounded its virtue as a brand at length.

Cider is the fastest growing part of the business but vinegar is the biggest, according to Barry Chevallier Guild.

The vinegars are widely used by the food industry and, while Aspall imports balsamic vinegars from Italy, the cider vinegars are all made on site. Barry Chevallier Guild says: "We've got a number of food manufacturing clients who buy from us on a wholesale basis because they appreciate the artisan way we make our products," adding that it even produces its own apple balsamic vinegar.

"We imported organic balsamic vinegar from Italy but thought it can't be rocket science to make it ourselves, so we followed the process of taking a base vinegar and adding concentrated juice of the same fruit and making a balsamic vinegar with it.

"Cider made from cider fruit is the base of our blend and we added the juice of English Coxes apple to sweeten it."

So what is the difference between this vinegar and the others? "The organic is a classic balsamic vinegar made in Modena in Italy; with ours you have an English twist on a balsamic - an intense apple flavour which is very different from ordinary balsamic," he says.

He adds that it's very good with pork, in chutney and with cheese and looking ahead to the summer barbecue season some of the company's recipes include sticky sweet and sour spare ribs and barbecued bangers. "You can also make a great apple sauce with a real zingy kick to it," he says.

"If you take our organic cider vinegar, which is our flagship product - that's our bestseller and the one for which we use a unique process to make it. The apple balsamic has a premium niche above that.

"We try not to do things for the sake of doing things. We play around with what is available on the market and try and make it better. It's primarily my brother and I that come up with the ideas but we have a tasting team.

"We have a micro vinegar making system to make vinegar without putting it through the manufacturing process, products such as cranberry vinegar and raspberry vinegar. It gives us the flexibility of making anything from alcohol to see what we can create."

'Cider vinegar is made by allowing the cider to undergo a secondary fermentation. On this occasion the alcohol present in the vinegar is converted into acetic acid - vinegar'.

Working in partnership

Aspall really excels is in its relationship with end users such as Mark Blatchford, who is executive chef at Geronimo Inns.

The company has run several open days for the chefs at Geronimo to inspire them with ways to use its products, which Blatchford believes has been of enormous benefit: "It's nice to work with a company that has a holistic approach to production and products that are not mass produced - you can almost feel it doing you good. We're always looking to work closely with our suppliers."

He says it has provided practical help: "The standard Geronimo batter, which we tested against many others, is made with draught Aspall Cyder and it's getting great customer feedback.

"I would never have thought to use cider in a batter before, as beer is far more traditional, but this is so light and crisp it works fantastically well. We also use the products in dishes as well, like slow roast pork, in the apple sauce for our Sunday roast and loads of other too."

Blatchford believes it makes a difference to customers and sales. He says that for its customers who are knowledgeable about good products, it will mean something to them and brings greater feedback to the pubs. "Provenance, food miles and local sourcing is hugely important to customers because they're a lot more clued up than they used to be.

"I always make sure that even if I can't get the brand name on the menu I spell it 'cyder' and that generally attracts comments and the staff are trained to let the customer know it's not just that we can't spell."

Text Melissa Cole Photography Aspall