Malic acid

Acide malique

What it is

Carl Wilhelm Scheele pulled it out of apple juice in 1785, and the name looks no further than that: malum, apple. It is the acid a fruit spends as it ripens, which is why a green apple bites and a ripe one has stopped.

In the kitchen

At equal weight it reads 10 to 20 percent sourer than citric, so start at 1 g per kilo of puree and taste. On a sour sweet it stays put where citric goes sticky, because it draws far less water out of the air.

Goes with

Apple Rhubarb Quince White sugar Pectin NH Cider vinegar Blackcurrant

Same species

Ascorbic acid Lactic acid Tartaric acid

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