What is your cider I.Q.?

[Harry Cobean]

two things we learnt in britain after the norman invasion of 1066 were:
1)don't look up when there are arrows flying about
2)how to make decent cider.
true,apple trees/cider had been about in britain since before roman times but one of the main tipple's was wine from vineyards in the south west of the country.with climate change(yep nothing new about that either) the vineyards disappeared & the romans introduced us to orchards(oh yeah,and taking a bath now & again!)the rest is,as we say,history!
i guess that one of the great things about cider(or cyder)is that it has a great range from bone dry to sweet,still & sparkling,low to high alcohol so largely works where most wines do.
my favourite is aspalls cyder from suffolk.their premier cru is hard to beat.i use their draught in pork,chicken,veal & seafood dishes,fabulous when cooking mussels
Aspall Cyder | Home
what's your's,what do you drink it with & what do you cook with it

 

[PrincessFiona60]

While I am NOT an imbiber...I know "stick-in-the-mud," I am a specific history buff. From Wikipedia:

"Avalon (probably from the Welsh word afal, meaning apple) is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay."

Just showing off my knowledge of the area...

 

[Harry Cobean]

While I am NOT an imbiber...I know "stick-in-the-mud," I am a specific history buff. From Wikipedia:

"Avalon (probably from the Welsh word afal, meaning apple) is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay."

Just showing off my knowledge of the area...

i'm impressed pf,but two things:
what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? must be 3 or 4am your side.
what's that got to do with cider?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

i'm impressed pf,but two things:
what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? must be 3 or 4am your side.
what's that got to do with cider?

Since cider is made from apples from orchards in the southwest of GB...and I KNOW that's where Avalon is located...

Unable to sleep and my sleep deprived brain makes odd connections between Cider and Avalon...

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Buon Giorno Harry,

Normandy: Apples and cows are prominent in this northwestern green region of France ... and thus, I do cook with Calvados at least once every two or three months or so ...

I absolutely love Calvados ... I have a lovely recipe on chicken with apples and Calvados and Apple Cider ( chicken section ), though I have made it with Veal while in Puglia ...

Several years ago, we had visited the Risle River Valley, which is in the heart of Normandy. During this lovely trip, we stopped to see a Calvados Producer Client ( someone I interviewed and published an article on ) of mine, Jacques and he had explained the varying processes of apple cider making, apple brandy producing and how to´s on apple juice ...

He is quite a master at this art ... as his father and grand father before him ... Jacques also prefers to work with wood fire distilling verses gas or oil.

September is apple harvest season in Normandy. Calvados is nursed to its optimum ... Lovely orchards ... It is absolutely awesome for a home made apple pie ... and a sipping snifter ... Nice for Digestivi ...

Asturias, Spain, 30 km from Gijón going east, is also apple cider making country ... The most famous export Gaita, which means Bag Pipe Player is exported throughout the USA and Latin America ... It comes in several formats: Sparkling Cider, Natural Cider - Still and Champagne - upscale oak fermented Cider. There are alcoholic ciders and non alcoholic ciders.

Have a lovely wkend and thanks for the super post ...

Ciao.
Margi Cintrano.

 

[Harry Cobean]

Since cider is made from apples from orchards in the southwest of GB...and I KNOW that's where Avalon is located...

Unable to sleep and my sleep deprived brain makes odd connections between Cider and Avalon...

oh i see......hmmm well avalon is actually a mythical island so it isn't actually located anywhere.some actual suggested locations are sicily,avallon in france,burgh sands in cumbria & bardsey island in the county of gwynneth wales which is famous for not only being the last resting place of king arthur & merlin but also for it's apples...so your sleep deprived noggin may have something there & who better to know the whereabouts of a king than a princess.
some of the best cider in the uk comes from suffolk in the east & hereford which is on the welsh/english border.
now get some sleep princess otherwise your handsome prince shrek can't awaken you with a kiss.........

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Avalon is in the mind of the Cider-holder...

I would go back to bed, but I have to be up in 2 hours anyway.

 

[Harry Cobean]

Avalon is in the mind of the Cider-holder...

I would go back to bed, but I have to be up in 2 hours anyway.

so it's in the eye of the C holder not the B holder!
right,i'm off to visit bolas & madge for the weekend.talkin' about cider i'm taking over a few cans of scrumpy jack....rocket fuel...it's great to drink,cleans the grease off the grill & my Gti flies like a bird on the stuff if i run out of petrol!!
i'll leave you with some "interesting" uk cider facts:

• Over two million new cider apple trees have been planted since 1995 (to 2006).
• In the 14th Century children were baptised in cider, it was cleaner than the water!
• Farm workers’ wages in earlier times included four pints of cider a day.
• Captain Cook carried cider on his ships to treat his crew for scurvy.
• At one time, 365 different varieties of cider apples were grown.
• In the 19th Century cider was advertised as a cure for the gout and other illnesses.
• The first listing of cider presses as a source of income appears in 1230 in a Royal Charter granted to Jocelin Bishop of Bath.
• One of the earliest written references to Cider can be found in the Wycliffe ‘Cider’ Bible, printed in the early 15th Century. The Bible gets its name from the translation of the verse ‘For he (John the Baptist) shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink...’. The Cider Bible uses the word ‘cider’ (sidir) for strong drink and it can be viewed today in Hereford Cathedral’s Chained Library.
• In 1664 John Evelyn wrote ‘Generally all strong and pleasant cider excites and cleanses the Stomach, strengthens Digestion, and infallibly frees the Kidneys and Bladder from breeding the Gravel Stone’.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Buon Giorno Harry,

I love historical facts and details about food products and thus, this post is phenomenal ...

Have enjoyed the trivia very much. Have a lovely wkend with Bolas and his lady.

Interesting about the UK Christening Ceremonies ...

I had known about the Scurvy amongst sailors ... using citrus and apples which have some varieties which are very acidic and thus, employed to cure this illness.

Ciao, Margi.

Ciao,
Margi.

 

[Aunt Bea]

My father used to put down a barrel of cider each year and he believed that the best hard cider was made with half apple and half pear juice. To get the process started he added raisins, rye whiskey, oatmeal and honey. He would decide when it was ready to drink by the number of bubbles coming through the airlock hose into a jar of water. It was always clear and quite potent. Any that was not used eventually turned to vinegar and then it was turned over to my Mother and my Grandmother for cooking.

You and Bolas should give it a try this fall!

 

[taxlady]

I live in Quebec and a fair amount of cider is produced here. So, I have always hoped for some that was good. The stuff I have tasted seems to have potential, I hate to say it, it just doesn't taste very good. One of these days I'll get someone knowledgeable to recommend some local cider.

There must be some that's good, the locally made ice cider was really good.

 

[Steve Kroll]

My cider IQ is just about nil. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of cider produced in the US anymore, at least not commercially. In colonial times, it was an immensely popular beverage, but fell out of favor in the latter half of the 19th century as beer and bourbon became the drink of choice. I've had cider on occasion, but don't like to hang around with people who drink too much of it as they have a tendency to become mule-headed. More so than beer, which often results in a sleepy drunk.

Incidently, there is an interesting historical footnote from the American perspective. You may hear the phrase "hard cider" bandied about in the US. The reason for this is because during the dark days of prohibition, the cider mills had to stay afloat, so they sold the unfermented juice as "soft" or "sweet" cider. Soon it was just called cider, for short. The name stuck and the drink became very popular. So much so, that when prohibition was repealed they had to come up with a new name for the alcoholic brew. Thus, "hard cider" was born.

In the US, "cider" usually refers to raw, unfermented and unfiltered apple juice. It's a cloudy liquid with a lot of pulp.

Apple juice is filtered and pasteurized. It's typically considered a children's drink.

Hard cider (though occasionally, you still may see "cider" by itself) normally refers to the fermented beverage.

None of these are had and fast rules, however. You'll see many instances where the lines are muddied.

 

[CraigC]

I know that my shoulder/butt mop, in which cider is the greatest portion of liquid, turns out some mighty fine pulled pork.

 

[Dawgluver]

I've made cider with a friend. It's hard work with the hand turned press, but the end product was quite good!

Other than that, and the occasional roadside stand cider, that's about it for me.

 

[Somebunny]

Love what we Yanks call hard Cider, but Steve is right its hard to come by here. I drink it when I am in Canada and especially like the draught version. Make mine extra dry.

 

[Harry Cobean]

Buon Giorno Harry,

I love historical facts and details about food products and thus, this post is phenomenal ...

Have enjoyed the trivia very much. Have a lovely wkend with Bolas and his lady.

Interesting about the UK Christening Ceremonies ...

I had known about the Scurvy amongst sailors ... using citrus and apples which have some varieties which are very acidic and thus, employed to cure this illness.

Ciao, Margi.

Ciao,
Margi.

trivia?love it too margi.i drive bolas & madge bonkers with it.it was the vitamin c in apples/citrus that cured scurvy but the sailors didn't know that.the yanks call us "limey's" due to the daily lime juice ration british sailors were given to ward off scurvy.apparently the nickname originated in the caribbean.
john evelyn was right all those years ago about it's medicinal properties.bolas drinks apple cider vinegar diluted in water to help dissolve his kidney stones.
as oscar wilde said "it is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information"
ben schott's original miscellany is my bible!
harry

 

[Harry Cobean]

My cider IQ is just about nil. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of cider produced in the US anymore, at least not commercially. In colonial times, it was an immensely popular beverage, but fell out of favor in the latter half of the 19th century as beer and bourbon became the drink of choice. I've had cider on occasion, but don't like to hang around with people who drink too much of it as they have a tendency to become mule-headed. More so than beer, which often results in a sleepy drunk.

Incidently, there is an interesting historical footnote from the American perspective. You may hear the phrase "hard cider" bandied about in the US. The reason for this is because during the dark days of prohibition, the cider mills had to stay afloat, so they sold the unfermented juice as "soft" or "sweet" cider. Soon it was just called cider, for short. The name stuck and the drink became very popular. So much so, that when prohibition was repealed they had to come up with a new name for the alcoholic brew. Thus, "hard cider" was born.

In the US, "cider" usually refers to raw, unfermented and unfiltered apple juice. It's a cloudy liquid with a lot of pulp.

Apple juice is filtered and pasteurized. It's typically considered a children's drink.

Hard cider (though occasionally, you still may see "cider" by itself) normally refers to the fermented beverage.

None of these are had and fast rules, however. You'll see many instances where the lines are muddied.

ah hah,interesting stuff steve.down in somerset,which is a massive cider producing area in the south west they call the cloudy cider "scrumpy".bolas & i grew up in the country & when we "raided" the local farmers orchards it was called "scrumping" when we were caught it was called " a beating!!"

 

[Harry Cobean]

My father used to put down a barrel of cider each year and he believed that the best hard cider was made with half apple and half pear juice. To get the process started he added raisins, rye whiskey, oatmeal and honey. He would decide when it was ready to drink by the number of bubbles coming through the airlock hose into a jar of water. It was always clear and quite potent. Any that was not used eventually turned to vinegar and then it was turned over to my Mother and my Grandmother for cooking.

You and Bolas should give it a try this fall!

flippin' 'eck auntie,cider & rye whiskey combo? i think "fall" is the operative word there..........!
sadly,the old apple & pear trees in the garden stopped producing a few years ago so we felled them & split the logs for the fireplace & barbeque...smell wonderful!

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Harry,

Yes, I had heard that expression in the Caribbean, Lime-ies ...

I do like Cider, however, there are so many types:

1. Asturian Natural Still - 5% alcohol
2. Asturian Sparkling - 5% alcohol
3. Asturian Sparkling in the same style as Cava, and aged in oak barrels and has the same alcoholic content as a Cava ...
4. French: Calvados is considered an apple brandy ( digestivi, cordial )

*** Plus numerous other French Normandy DOC varieties ...

So, enjoy ...
Margi.