Fourth-generation apple grower now making hard cider




A fourth-generation apple grower in La Crescent, Minn., is about to ship the first batch of hard cider grown on his family’s land to retail stores in the La Crescent and Twin Cities areas,

the

Rochester Post-Bulletin

reported.

Mitch Leidel’s first batch of Leidel Cider was about 1,000 gallons, the article said.

Leidel hopes to revive the family’s orchards, which haven’t been tended for a few years, by planting varieties of English apples grown specifically to make cider. The market for the beverage has been growing, the report noted.

Leidel’s great-grandfather planted apple trees in 1917, but in 2008 the family stopped tending the trees; their apple stand sold only fruit from other growers, the article said.

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Leidel hopes his cider business will yield enough capital to enable him to reopen the 90-acre family orchard. His goal is to hire someone else to operate the orchard while he focuses on the cider business, the article said. (Source:

Rochester Post-Bulletin,

April 9, 2014.)

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