Hard Cider
What is apple cider?
In common American usage, raw apple juice that has not been filtered to remove pulp or sediment is referred to as “fresh cider” or “sweet cider.” The term “apple juice” indicates the juice has been filtered to remove solids. Fermented apple juice is called “hard cider.” In Europe, all non-fermented apple juice is referred to as “juice”, and fermented apple juice is referred to as “cider.” Worldwide, cider varies in alcohol content from less than 3% alcohol by volume (ABV) as found in French cidre doux, to 8.5% ABV or above in traditional English ciders. In the U.S., cider has 7% or lower ABV; anything above 7% ABV is considered an apple wine and falls under a different tax system.
History of cider
The first recorded references to cider date back to Roman times; in 55 BCE Julius Caesar found the Celtic Britons fermenting cider from native crabapples. The people of northern Spain were making sidra before the birth of Christ. The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 resulted in the introduction of many apple varieties from France and cider soon became the most popular drink after ale. Cider began to be used to pay tithes and rents – a custom that continued later in America. Cider is still very popular in England, which has the highest per capita consumption as well as the largest cider producing companies in the world. Cider is also traditional in western Europe, including Brittany and Normandy in France.
Cider in America
Only 9 years after first landing at Plymouth in 1620, European colonists planted apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In Colonial America, cider was the most common beverage, and even children drank it in a diluted form. In many places, the water was not safe to drink and most homesteads had an apple orchard. Pressing and fermenting fresh apple juice was the easiest way to preserve the large fruit harvest. In rural communities, taxes, wages and tithes were often paid in cider. It was also the basis for other products, such as vinegar, which was used to preserve fresh foods and for other purposes around the farm.
However, by the late 1800s, cider began its decline from the most popular beverage in the nation. Several unrelated forces combined to essentially wipe cider from the collective memory of America. A major factor was the Industrial Revolution, bringing people from the farm to the city to live and work. Many orchards were abandoned, resulting in reduced production. Unfiltered and unpasteurized cider did not travel well from farms to the new centers of population. An additional element was the increased consumption of beer, especially in cities. Immigrants arriving from Germany and Ireland, and cheap grain available in the Midwest, led beer to replace cider in the popular market.
The most damaging factor for cider was the rise of the Temperance movement. By the time Prohibition was enacted in 1919, the production of cider in the U.S. had slipped to only 13 million gallons, down from 55 million gallons in 1899. Over the next several decades, the once proud American tradition of cider making was kept alive by only a few local farmers and enthusiasts. In recent years there has been a resurgent interest in cider making and today cider is one of the fastest-growing segments of the liquor industry.
Research
Federal Grants Reach Specialty Crops (Capital Press, January 2012)
Variety Trials
A small collection of cider apples specifically bred for hard cider production was planted in a preliminary trial from 1978 to 1998, selecting for productivity and ease of growing. In 1994 a larger, replicated planting was established, and expanded in 1999 with new trees from varieties in the preliminary trial. Beginning In 2002, varietal ciders have been produced on-station using fruit from the trial, with the advice of an expert cider maker. The ciders are then sampled and evaluated for quality and marketability.
Publications
PNW621 Hard Cider Production and Orchard Management in the Pacific Northwest – new basic manual for hard cider making, based on variety evaluations and cider trials at WSU Mount Vernon NWREC.
Reports
Assessing apple cultivar characteristics for hard cider production (ASHS abstract 2009)
Mechanical Harvest Trials
Mechanical Cider Harvest 2011 – Video
Labor costs continue to increase for orchardists, and since fruit for cider is often pressed immediately after picking, fruit damage resulting from mechanical picking is of less concern than for fresh market apples. A preliminary trial in 2007 showed that a raspberry harvester was effective in picking the fruit in a trellis planting of trees on dwarfing rootstocks. In 2011 a replicated trial of the mechanical harvester was conducted to examine the possible effects of fruit damage on the quality of juice pressed after mechanical harvesting, overall harvest efficiency, and factors that may affect future training and pruning methods. For detailed results of this trial see the 2011 Annual Report.
2011 Cider Report
Varieties
The original trial included trees of 12 different English and French cider apple varieties, and the replicated trial added 6 more. New varieties from France and England were added in 2001–2002, and 2004–2005, including some old American cider varieties. The trial included up to 80 varieties in replicated plots and screening test plots.
Cider apple varieties tested at Mount Vernon (2009)
Cider Schools & Workshops
The Northwest Agriculture Business Center continues to sponsor Cider School Classes, offered since 2003 in collaboration with Peter Mitchell, an internationally known expert in hard cider and perry production from Worcester, England.
The Northwest Cider Association is a group of cider makers and orchardists from western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia who have organized to promote the production and appreciation of hard (fermented) cider.
Sources for information
Grafton, G. and P. Gunningham. 1990–2005. The New Real Cider and Perry Page. A very useful website with much detailed information on both cider and perry.
Cider apple varieties
History
Cider Making Guide
Blackburn-Maze, P. 1986. The Apple Book. Collingridge Books, Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., Middlesex, England.
Copas, L. 2001 A Somerset Pomona: The Cider Apples of Somerset. The Dovecote Press Ltd., Dorset, England.
Lea, A. 2008. Craft Cider Making. The Good Life Press, Preston, England.
Morgan, J. and A. Richards. 1993. The Book of Apples. Ebury Press Ltd., London, England.
Proulx, A. and L. Nichols. 1997. Cider: Making, Using and Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider, 2nd edition. Storey Publishing, Pownal, VT.
Watson, B. 1999. Cider Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions, and Making Your Own. The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont.
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