Every fall, Calgary’s backyard fruit trees produce more apples, pears and cherries than homeowners know what to do with, but a Calgary business is turning that excess fruit into cider instead of letting it go to waste.<\/p>\n
SunnyCider’s annual fruit donor program began Tuesday, inviting Calgarians to bring them their excess backyard fruit, where it will be sorted, pressed and fermented into cider.<\/p>\n
Last year, the program diverted about 16,000 kilograms of fruit and produced roughly 10,000 litres of cider, according to founder Dennis Scanland.<\/p>\n
This year, Scanland expects Calgarians could donate close to 20,000 kilograms of fruit.<\/p>\n
The program has its roots in Calgary’s Sunnyside neighbourhood, where Scanland and his business partners began collecting apples from neighbourhood trees in 2013.<\/p>\n
“We saw all the fruit trees in the neighbourhood and all the apples were falling to the ground and we thought there’s got to be something we can do,” Scanland said. “We were making applesauce, apple pies, and then making apple juice, and then the next thing that came was, ‘let’s try fermenting this.’ It took us a few years to make good cider, but once we did, it was really good.”<\/p>\n
The social project eventually grew into SunnyCider, which opened seven years ago.<\/p>\n
Scanland said his business partner estimates Calgary’s backyard trees could produce as much as 200,000 kilograms of fruit each year, although he said the figure is difficult to quantify.<\/p>\n
“People inherit these yards with these beautiful apple trees and they produce these amazing apples and they take maybe a bucket or two and make an apple pie, and that’s about all they do with it, and then the rest goes in the green or it lands on the ground and just composts on the ground,” Scanland said. “It’s astronomical how much actual fruit could be rescued and brought to us.”<\/p>\n