On a mission to save fruits
15.550kg fruit saved
We are urban cider makers:
Based in an 1922 build warehouse in the Rotterdam fruit harbor Lightship cider is truly an urban cidermaker. The M4H area is a hotspot for artisanal and creative makers and is developing into a lively neighborhood and work space. Luckily we’re still very close to some amazing orchards and farms. A fact that helps us to forge the link between the city and the countryside.
Circular ciders and orchards:
Times are changing: old orchards and their unique ecosystems disappear and the amount of food waste grows. With our ciders and fruit pet-nats we can make a change!
We use Dutch heritage fruit, support traditional high-stem orchards and are involved in planting new ones. These orchards create amazing habitats for wild animals and plants, and also help with cooling down our planet while increasing our biodiversity.
Too small. too big, overripe or just weirdly shaped. Lots of fruits are considered out of standards and often end up being discarded, or abandoned, as we prefer to say. We save these abandoned fruits and turn them into delicious circular ciders and pet-nats.
Fermentation as tool for circular economy:
Fermentation is one of the most ancient and exciting food preserving techniques. With small differences, since the early stages of the human evolution, fermentation is applied to fruits, vegetables, grains, milk, meat. This technique not only preserves the food for a long period, but also creates new flavors and transforms the raw material into something even more flavorful.
Throughout the time, people started to grow and select raw material specifically for fermentation and the technique lost its purpose of preserving food to become just a technique to create new products.
In the early stages of our cider making path, we realized that this ancient technique could be used in its old purpose again. We could avoid food waste using the fermentation process!
So that is what we do at Lightship Cider: we transform abandoned fruits into amazing flavorful pet-nats!