Cider Rules the House

We posted an article – Cider Rules the House – by Anne Dailey (formerly of The Valley Table) recently, about the fresh cloudy non-alcoholic beverage that is becoming quite the specialty item. Soon after, I received an email in response to the article… someone who has additional information for us about the “hard” apple cider beverage. To me, they are both so refreshing! It’s interesting to get more detail, who would have thought there is so much to know about apple processing in our country.

“Regarding Anne Dailey’s article “Cider Rules the House” in your September newsletter:

I understand Ms. Dailey’s focus in “Cider Rules the House” is on non-alcoholic cider, but wish she had explained how the history of hard cider in America has played a role in how its non-alcoholic little brother came to be. Micheal Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire provides an in depth look into cider’s history in America. He describes how hard cider used to be the primary, if not only, form of this beverage.

Meanwhile, Anne Dailey states “in Europe, ask for “cider” and you’ll likely get the alcoholic beverage that we know as “hard cider”…in the United States, “cider” generally refers to the fresh, cloudy drink that is pressed from apples, bottled and sold alongside warm cider doughnuts at farms and festivals across the Northeast.” Pollan makes clear that it did not used to be this way. Apples were one of the first crops that European settlers planted upon arriving in North America for the purpose of fermenting them into hard cider. Hard cider, which required no refrigeration, was their alternative to water because of fears that the water in the new world might be contaminated. In fact, up until Prohibition, cider was the most popular beverage in America. Hard cider was consumed by entire families, young and old, because it was thought to help keep everyone in good health. It was one of the reasons apples became such a symbol of Americana. Cider was hard cider and hard cider was America’s drink of choice.

It is only because of the Prohibition movement, and the efforts of our government, that what is widely known as cider today is the sweet, non-alcoholic kind. However, there are some wonderful, traditional, (hard) cideries around the country, striving to bring back original cider-making traditions (and, ironically enough, still struggling with the US Government in the labeling and licensing process.) To start, AEppelTreow Winery out of Burlington, WI and Farnum Hill Ciders out of Lebanon, NH have beautiful ciders and passionate cider-makers. I’d love to see Sustainable Table publish an article on traditional cider-makers and hard cider-making’s rich history in America, as it traces back to the beginnings of this country and is an interesting process that talented cider-makers across the country are trying to bring to more Americans.

Thank you,
Lauren Shepard”

Thank you to Lauren for taking the time to shed more light on the apple industry here in the US, it’s interesting that producers are still struggling with outdated laws (hmmm, agriculture seems to endlessly be dealing with out-of-date government issues… farm bill, for example).

Lauren also happens to work for Shelton Brothers, an importer of beer and cider, though they also have high quality standards and look for traditional forms of processing, Lauren wanted us to know this is a personal email, not as a representative of her company… but it shows that she knows what she is talking about!