Hinxton Hall’s orchard “Sci-der” 

The ChEMBL team at the European Bioinformatics Institute, the Tree of Life programme at the Sanger Institute and Simon’s Cider in Godmanchester have teamed up to turn apples from Hinxton Hall orchard into cider!

Originally built with the Hall, the orchard was a kitchen garden, which supplied the main house with fresh produce all year round. Today, almost all of the orchard’s fruit trees are apple varieties including Worcester Pearmain, Cox’s Orange Pippin and Laxton Superb.

This project will use cider fermentation as a way to talk about the exciting genetics and diversity of apple trees, and the delicious biochemistry of taste and alcohol production. So if you have ever wondered how you get from apples to cider, or why some cider apples just aren’t that tasty to eat the team will have the answers you’re looking for!

The cider will be ready later this Summer. In the meantime, we’ll be sharing our  colleagues updates on the science behind the cider making process on our Twitter feed.