[fella]

I read somewhere that there used to be special varieties of apples that were just for cider and not eating and that they have almost disappeared except for heritage orchards.

This also puts a whole different view on “Johnny Appleseed” and what he was up to.

[elcid1970]

Heck, used to be any kid knew the difference between “pie apples” and “eatin’ apples”. The former were crumbly & bland tasting, the latter crisp & tart.

Apple strains just for cider? Interesting. One can imagine Johnny Appleseed being pursued by Carrie Nation & her hatchet.

But I recall when during the harvest that if an apple was bruised, it “went surely to the cider-apple heap, as of no use”.

[who knows what evil?]

I used to pick up six-packs of ‘Apple Beer’ in upstate New York years ago...it came in cans, and was an import from Utah. I see those cans on eBay now and then. There is still an ‘Apple Beer’ available in the Utah region...the logo is similar to those old cans, so I suspect it is the same product. No alcohol, though...so the only thing it has in common with hard cider is ‘apple’. Tasty, though...