We are a group of enthusiastic apple pickers that make cider and wine from the fruit we pick. We own no trees, but other citizens of Oslo do! And as many of them have more fruit than they can use, we pick it! Mostly we go door to door, but as we become friendly with our neighbors, relationships are established for next season. We also pick apple from some public areas in the city, like the mental hospital at Gaustad.
With everyone working in Mold being enthusiastic about the natural wine movement, we wanted to have fruit ferment into alcohol ourself. We started in the autumn of 2017 making alcoholic beverages from the fruit we could find. Without adding yeast to start the fermentation, we rather let the indigenous yeast from the skin of the fruit do the job. We also usually let our fruit macerate for a while to give the end product more structure and complexity.
From making a couple of hundred liters our first year of production we made almost 3,500 liters in 2019. We hope to grow a bit every year, but our philosophy is slow and steady, so that we can learn as we go.
Why another cider?
Every year, thousands of tons of fruit rot away in Oslo. Either in peoples gardens or in the recycling stations for garden material. At the same time, the citizens are buying apples from Spain or pears from Israel. In fact 90 percent of the apples consumed in Norway are imported, which amounts to 50.000 tons a year.
With our work, we want to be an example of what is possible to do with your local flora. The waste of food needs to stop, and a easy first step here is using what is growing outside your window. Or they can give their fruit to us, whom will put it to good use.
Norwegians do not have a rich culture for drinking cider, especially not spontaneous fermented cider. But we have seen through working in the restaurant business, that there is a growing interest in this type of cider. By using locally picked fruit and indigenous yeast, we might be able to show what Oslo tasted like that season.
We also put a lot of work in at the brewery. For our first couple of years now, we have been guest-brewing at the best sour beer brewery in Norway, Eik&Tid. Located in Carl Berner, Oslo, it is perfectly located for our production. In the brewery we have space to let our fruit macerate before we press them. We tend to do this with every type of fruit we collect, albeit the time spent macerating varies. The maceration is important for us. We want to create something that stands out, in the sense that it shows what it is and where it comes from with flavor.
The picking of the fruit is also very important aspect of the process for us. Not only do we get close to the fruit and in that way get a close relationship to what we will later be working with in the brewery. But we also get to meet all of the wonderful people that we call the providers. Yes, yes, the providers. We like the providers, they are kind to us, and we are in return kind to them. Together with the providers we hope to ascend to greatness every year.