Eye Apple Cider For Fall Refreshment

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, can it at least sometimes come in a glass?

According to experts, until the turn of the last century, most apples were enjoyed as hard (alcoholic) cider -- not nibbled as whole fruit.

In fact, some say that Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman), planted his apple progeny ahead of the settlers in the West (mainly Ohio and Indiana) so that they later would have established orchards for cider -- not for munching fruit straight off the tree.

But cider was the apple of many an eye long before Mr. Appleseed and his planting passion. Records show that people have been quaffing cider since at least 55 B.C. -- when the Romans arrived in what is now England and found the locals drinking a cider-like liquid.

During the colonial period, hard cider was one of America's most popular beverages. A town's prosperity often was judged by the volume of cider it produced. It was only until Carrie Nation with her infamous ax (often used for chopping down those cider-apple trees) led the way to prohibition that cider consumption stopped growing in the United States. And that "apple a day" axiom? Apparently, it was a marketing ploy created in the early 1900s to save the apple from drifting into obscurity as cider fell from grace during prohibition.

Like microbrewed beer, cider is seeing a revival in interest as more people are discovering artisan foods such as cheeses, breads, coffees and other goods. "Foodies" are finding that a crisp, dry cider can pair wonderfully with other fine ingredients in the kitchen or with a meal at the dinner table -- and even during cocktail hour.

Cider Basics

A few years ago, when a nice group of folks gave me a big jug of sweet cider for the holidays, I learned an important lesson: given the right conditions, apple juice will ferment into cider all on its own!

Unfortunately, I never got to try my newly fermented cider. The glass jug that was holding the lovely liquid exploded as the gasses inside expanded. Fortunately, the pantry door was closed and the explosion happened late at night when we were all tucked safely in bed. But it sure made a mess. And I picked glass out of that pantry door for hours.

Like my "experiment," most cider comes from fermented apple juice (although there are other flavors -- try pear for a nice change of pace). Natural cider relies on the wild yeast present in the apples to ferment (which is what happened to me). Some mass-produced ciders will add a yeast culture to help the fermentation process along and to achieve consistency.

In Europe, "cider" refers only to fermented apple juice that contains varying levels of alcohol. But here in the United States, fermented apple juice is called "hard cider" while freshly pressed apple juice that has not been allowed to ferment is called "sweet cider" -- or just plain ol' apple juice. And, to make things even more confusing, some companies will use the term "cider" to refer to apple juice with no preservatives, and "apple juice" to describe juice that has been pasteurized.

But, no matter what you call it, kids (of any age) know how good apple cider or juice tastes after playing in piles of autumn leaves!

Do you have a drink recipe you'd like to share? Send it to Lisa and it might show up in a future Liquid Solutions column!