Whether sampled as a chilled thirst-quencher on a summer's day or served hot and mulled with spices on a cold winter's evening, apple cider is a beverage steeped in tradition. It has also been able to capitalize on contemporary society's growing demand for natural and organic products.
Part of cider's appeal lies in its simplicity. Making it is as easy as grinding up harvested apples and pressing the resulting mash to extract the juice, which is then bottled. In the case of hard (fermented) cider, the bottled juice is stored until natural fermentation occurs.
Types
In the United States, the term "cider" or "sweet cider," refers to simple, unfiltered and unfermented apple juice pressed from fresh apples. The product generally sold as apple juice is a clear, pressed juice that has been pasteurized and undergone a filtering process that removes solids. The pasteurization process and the addition of preservatives prevents fermentation from occurring, keeping the juice non-alcoholic.
In much of the rest of the world, the beverage referred to as cider is nearly always a fermented beverage, and is often quite high in alcohol content. Although unfermented cider is enjoyed in some locales abroad, it's usually simply designated as a non-alcoholic cider rather than a sweet cider. A cider labelled "sweet" in the UK, for example, would still be an fermented and potent drink; the label would simply be identifying a sweet tasting cider as opposed to dry.
Commonly referred to as hard cider in the US, naturally fermented, alcoholic cider relies on wild yeasts present in the apples for this fermentation. Some widely distributed brands of hard cider have yeasts added to create a more consistent product. It is the yeast that gives hard cider its effervescent body.
History
The drinking of cider has been going on in Europe for centuries. In medieval Britain, orchards existed specifically to grow apple varieties suited for cider making. So widespread was cider drinking, that on top of regular wages, farm workers were actually given an extra allowance for the purchase of the beverage.
When English settlers came to the New World, they brought cider apple seeds with them, and the reliability and relative cheapness of cultivating apples led to cider becoming one of America's most popular beverages. Indeed, drinking cider was often a decidedly safer proposition than sampling much of the drinking water!
Cider's popularity ultimately waned with the growing popularity of beer, and as the major breweries sprang up and began to dominate the market, cider production remained relatively small-scale, usually confined to small farms. Although prohibition temporarily sounded the death-knell for cider's popularity in the US, the 21st century has seen a resurgence of microbreweries, and the public's demand for high quality, hand-crafted beers and hard ciders has revitalized the cider-making industry.
Geography
The largest cider producing countries are in western Europe. In Spain, the northern Basque region is noted for its cider (sidra) production, and their traditional ciders are bottles and corked just like their wines. The largest cider producer though, is France, specifically the northern regions of Brittany and Normandy. French cider (cidre) is light and sparkling, and appropriately enough, is usually stored in champagne-like bottles.
Across the English channel, cider makers in the southern England counties of Devon and Somerset are known for a traditional, dark and cloudy natural cider known as "scrumpy." Britons happen to be the highest per capita consumers of cider in the world today, and in some locales, cider consumption rivals that of beer.
In the United States, cider making is largely the domain of the northern states of New England and Vermont, although the explosive growth of microbrewing, especially in Western states like Washington and Oregon has led to more widespread cider making, both of sweet cider and hard (alcoholic) cider.
Benefits
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" goes the old adage, and since apples are the main ingredient in cider, it stands to reason that it would be hailed for its potential health benefits. Apple cider is rich in antioxidants and a good source of minerals such as potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorous and iron. Marketing-savy cider makers have made a point of targeting health conscious consumers, much in the same way that vintners have trumpeted the health benefits of moderate red wine drinking.
Warning
Although sweet cider is a non-alcoholic brew, the alcohol content of some fermented, or hard ciders, can approach double digits, so a little caution is called for when sampling them.
Tags: sweet cider, cider making, hard cider, alcohol content, alcoholic cider, apple juice