The
SCD™ Knowledge Base
Cider (Alcoholic)
Bob Ellis writes:
Elaine and I talked about cider (alcoholic) when she visited the UK.. so
We came up with a guideline based on the amount of sugar used in "real" cider
and My experiences whilst I was recovering from UC. We decided on a 1%
rule...meaning that no cider should have more than 1% sugar added to the
brew.
Basic rules for Cider:
If it's commercial Cider eg Strongbow, Old English, Woodpecker...don't touch
it.
If it's called "White" Cider it's made in a lab....don't touch
it.
Look for Ciders labeled Scrumpy or Farmhouse, as a guide but check the ingredients.
Bob wrote to a cider brewer about the sucrose residue in cider, they replied
-
If sucrose is added to cider
*before* fermentation, the invertase in the
yeast splits it into glucose and fructose which are all consumed by the
yeast. If sucrose is added for sweetening *after* fermentation, it also
slowly breaks down into glucose and fructose (chemical inversion due to
acid) in the bottle over a matter of weeks until no sucrose remains. So
most bottled ciders (even if sucrose is added to sweeten them) contain
very little residual sucrose, and this diminishes with time. (The
glucose and fructose together remain equally sweet so no sweetness is
lost by this). The safest course here, if you wish to avoid any
residual sucrose, is to choose only fully dry ciders or those which you
know to have been sweetened only with saccharin. Or choose sweeter
ciders which have been in bottle for at least 6 months!
If you are interested in sugars
which are poorly absorbed or poorly
digestible by gut microflora, there are two further things you should
know. Sorbitol (from apple juice) is found in ciders at levels around
0.5% and in perries at 1.2%. Sorbitol is found at higher levels in
prunes and is generally regarded as the reason for their adverse effects
on the gut in many people.
Also, most commercial ciders
have starch or inulin syrups added as
fermentation adjuncts - these contribute
significant amounts of glucose or fructose oliogosaccharides which may
be variably digestible. The latter are a notorious cause of flatulence
for many people when in high concentration (Jerusalem artichokes!). The
glucose oligosaccharides are probably fully digestible for most people -
if they were not, the situation would be much worse with beer since malt
contains relatively huge amounts of these.
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