Scientist Turns Wild Roadside Apples Into Award-Winning Cider

Lucien Alperstein's hobby started with a rumor and a borrowed car, but it has blossomed into something far more delicious.

The UNSW PhD candidate has spent the past decade picking wild apples from trees along country back roads across southeastern Australia. Those forgotten fruits, likely grown from tossed apple cores or seeds spread by wildlife, have become the foundation for his Road Cider project.

"Whether they grew from apple cores that people have thrown out the window or from wildlife that had picked up fruit from orchards and dropped off or pooed out the seeds," Alperstein said. On his first foraging trip just outside Sydney, he filled his parents' Toyota sedan with enough wild apples to bounce around the driveway when he opened the boot.

What makes these roadside harvests special is their wild genetic diversity. Unlike commercial apples grafted from rootstock, every seed in a wild apple produces a completely different variety.

Along a single kilometer stretch, Alperstein encounters up to 30 distinct trees bearing plums, peaches, pears, crabapples, quinces, and countless apple varieties. Some produce sweet, aromatic fruit perfect for eating, while others grow golf ball-sized apples packed with tannins that shine in fermentation.

One memorable tree bears apples with dark red skin and pink flesh inside. "A lot of the more weird and wonderful fruit lends itself better to cider than for eating," he said.

Sunny's Take

There's something wonderfully hopeful about Alperstein's quest to transform forgotten fruit into something people can enjoy together. He has upgraded from backyard batches to partnering with Marrickville's Wildflower Brewing, selling bottles to friends, family, and strangers who appreciate his traditional dry-style cider.

The process is beautifully simple: pick apples at peak ripeness, crush them, press out the juice, and let wild yeasts from the apple skins do their fermentation magic. He tosses in pears when he finds them and adds quinces for "a really aromatic delicious bouquet."

The harvest varies wildly since unpruned wild trees tend to fruit heavily only every second year. But unreliable supply hasn't dampened Alperstein's enthusiasm.

He's discovered a small community of fellow foragers who share his passion, though many keep their tree locations secret. The website Roadside Fruit Trees describes these forgotten orchards as an "enormously under-valued resource," though some councils classify them as weeds that must be destroyed.

Alperstein acknowledges they can outcompete native plants in some areas, but he believes most pose little threat. His advice for aspiring foragers? Drive through areas with decent rainfall and cold winters, put on your "apple eyes," and start looking.

While he doesn't know what the future holds for Road Cider, one thing is certain: his passion for roadside picking will continue guiding his travel plans, turning forgotten fruit into liquid memories one wild harvest at a time.