Pumpkin Cider

Pumpkin Cider: A Collaborative Recipe Formulated by mlNikon and CheebaSteeba

Fall is a time for all things pumpkin; This is our take on a pumpkin cider -- a less common but oh-so-delicious pumpkin pairing.

Apple and pumpkin play surprisingly well off of each other, and the spices from both the pumpkin spice and cider work together. Pumpkin cider can be taken a few different directions such as light and refreshing, dark and spicy, bubbly, or sweet and creamy. We went more towards the dark and spicy + a bit of sweet and creamy end of the cider spectrum. This profile also pairs well with alcohol, if so inclined feel free to add 0.5%-1% FA Jamaican rum or another spicy and warm alcohol note.

Flavor Notes:

Pumpkin Base

• FW Pumpkin Spice -- This is a nice, well rounded group of spices. TFA was too harsh and capella's version, although way better, wasn't quite as soft, if you will, as Fw's offering. With Fw you get that blend if nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice without one off flavor jumping out at you.
• TFA Pumpkin -- As pleasant as Fw pumpkin spice is, it doesn't have much if any actual pumpkin flavor . We didn't just want to leave that taste if pumpkin up to power of persuasion so this was a must. TFA pumpkin by itself is a little raw tasting so we enlisted the help of liquid amber to give the pumpkin a more cooked taste
• TFA Yam -- This flavor does wonders for the overall pumpkin taste. It is just the sweet starchy flavor that this mix needed. It makes the recipe more mellow and thickens it out.

Cider Base

• TFA Apple -- This is the main apple flavor we went with as it provides a more "red" type apple flavor and is on the darker side and not overwhelmingly apple.
• FA Fuji -- Fuji is used here as an accent to reinforce the "apple" aspect of the profile, as well as providing a touch of brightness that the mix needs.
• FA Liquid Amber -- This ingredient works well here to provide a sort of cider base with its "cooked fruit" aspect and dark, somewhat spiced, tones, allowing you to take it a number of directions

Some Cream

• CAP Vanilla Whipped Cream -- This flavor kind of brings the "whipped cream melted in to the cider" effect and really helps to tame the spice a bit as well as adding a vanilla nuance and sweetness to help round out the spices. We decided on the CAP Vanilla Whipped Cream over the TFA Whipped Cream since the CAP's vanilla aspect played so well off of the different spices that were present in the mix.
• TFA Toasted Marshmallow -- Works well to tone down some of the spice, give the recipe some velvety body to hold on to, and lend a touch of sweetness.

It was really fun to work collaboratively on a recipe and I think led to some discoveries that we may not have otherwise made. I feel like the entire process was really a team effort, from deciding on a profile to work on, down to fine tuning the %s; I will say though that the idea of adding the TFA Yam to accent the pumpkin was entirely mlNikon's idea, and I think is a real hidden gem as far as working with pumpkins go. I think it is important and really played to our benefit having a mixing partner that has a similar palate and mixing style to yours, as we could really rely on each other to mix up specific batches and provide good feedback that we could build off of, effectively doubling (or maybe even more) our productivity in developing the recipe.