Fruit to Blend into Cider

By Luke Ruffner Robinson, Owner, Montana Fruit Trees. Last updated October 31, 2026.

The best fruit to blend into cider in cold country is high acid, strongly flavored fruit used in small amounts: aronia, black currant, haskap, sea buckthorn, chokecherry, tart cherry, elderberry and quince. Black currant, sea buckthorn, tart cherry and haskap run three to six times the acid of apple juice, so a few percent changes a whole batch.

Plan the amounts in our calculator (plan your blend), or start from the worked examples on our cider blends page.

Black currant cider

Black currant juice tested 32 to 39 g/L acid in University of Wisconsin trials, about five times a typical apple juice, so 5 to 10% black currant is plenty. We rate Montana black currant zone 2 and Titania zone 3.

Haskap (honeyberry) cider

Haskap juice averaged 15.1 Brix across 150 University of Saskatchewan selections, with total acidity around 1.8 (units weren't printed; if that's percent, it's about 18 g/L). Use thawed juice, not puree, which hazes. See our honeyberry.

Sea buckthorn

About 26 to 33 g/L acid with a pH under 3, plus a tropical aroma; treat it as an accent at a few percent. Our sea buckthorn is hardy to zone 2 and fixes its own nitrogen.

Aronia

Aronia juice tested 18.8 to 24.0 Brix and 8.8 to 12.8 g/L acid (as citric) at MSU, but it carries a lot of sorbitol, so aronia ciders finish sweeter than the gravity suggests, and the astringency shows up once fermentation starts. Our aronia is hardy to zone 2.

Tart cherry

Juliet tart cherry juice tested 21.8 Brix and 17.2 g/L acid (as citric) at MSU, and Romeo 25.7 Brix and 17.3 g/L. Both are zone 2 bush cherries from the University of Saskatchewan.

Chokecherry

Deep color and plenty of phenolics, with juice around 18 Brix. Crush the fruit without grinding the pits, which carry cyanogenic compounds. Our chokecherry is a zone 2 native.

Elderberry cider

MSU elderberry juices tested about 12 to 13 Brix with a high pH (4.1 to 5.0), so elderberry adds color and flavor but needs acid from somewhere else. Strip every stem and cook the berries or juice first; raw berries, stems and leaves carry cyanogenic glycosides, and Oregon State's advice is to always cook them. See our American elderberry.

Quince cider

Quince is very hard and gives little juice from an apple press, but a little grated or cooked quince adds aroma and tannin. Our Aromatnaya Russian quince takes zone 4.

For the apples to go with them, see the best apples for cider.

Sources

About the author. Luke Ruffner Robinson owns Montana Fruit Trees in Missoula, where he and his crew grow cold hardy fruit trees at orchards in Missoula and Florence and track how each variety does through real Montana winters with a network of growers from the Bitterroot to Fairbanks.