Craft Cider Rocks the Gravenstein Apple Fair, by Dana Glei
Our speaker for September 21, 2023, was Dana Glei, manager for the Cider Tent at the Gravenstein Apple Fair. Dana met Penny Millar while both were working at the Cider Tent during the recent fair. Dana is a long-time aficionado of apples, loves plants, birds, and cider. Dr. Glei has a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University and has more than 25 years doing social, demographic, and health research. She has contributed over 90 publications, 35 of which have been as lead author.
Apples have been a key part of Sonoma County agriculture since their introduction. We don’t know where Gravensteins originated, but we do know that they arrived in Denmark in 1669. The Gravenstein apple was the king of Sonoma County apples. The first Gravensteins were planted in Sonoma County in 1883. Sebastopol was one of the largest apple growing regions in the U.S. By 1940, Sonoma County had 14,000 acres of apples. That number fell to 2,100 in 2022. Sonoma County used to have dozens of apple processing plants; now we only have 1.
The Gravenstein Apple Fair (GAF) is the primary annual fundraiser for Sonoma County Farm Trails. This year the GAF celebrated its 40th anniversary! It is staged each year to coincide with the apple harvest, although this years the Gravensteins weren’t ready! They need 600 volunteers each year to put on the fair, which includes Ag games such as the pig race, juggling, and hay bale toss! This year the Cider Tent served ciders from 16 producers, all from within 100 miles of Sonoma County. All of the ciders served at the tent are craft ciders, which are locally produced and fresh pressed, as contrasted with mass produced ciders, which are often made with apple concentrate. Dr. Glei also gave us a brief description of apples used in making cider. “Spitters” are apples that are too bitter and astringent to eat, but very helpful in making cider. Wickson apples are very small and taste like lemon meringue, with a great balance of acid and sugar. Ashmead’s Kernel apples are her favorite, with rough, leathery skin in a Russet style. They are a sugar bomb, but also have an acidic, nutty flavor. These are not the popular apples we typically eat, such as Honeycrisp, Gala, and Fuji, which have very little acidity, and are very sweet.
