Posted on 01/03/2021 1:38:08 PM PST by SamAdams76
Apples were among some of the first crops grown in colonial America. Potted seedlings and bags of apple seeds were brought over on the Mayflower. The Bible-thumping Puritans were not teetotalers. Apple orchards in colonial America usually meant one thing: hard cider.The apple tree is an unusual plant. It’s what’s called an “extreme heterozygote,” meaning the fruit it produces is highly varied from one plant to another. Even seeds planted from apples that fell from the same parent tree will yield offspring trees that produce completely different tasting fruit. Nowadays, we tend to think of apples as perfectly shaped, shiny red orbs that make for a healthy snack. As anyone who has tasted a wild apple can tell you, not all apples are good for eating. The different breeds of cooking and eating apples that we know and love today (Red Delicious, Granny Smith, etc.) are the result of centuries of apple roulette: finding that one special tree that produced an apple with perfectly formed skin, size and sweetness. Orchards of these varieties of apple aren’t planted from seed — they are grown from grafts, genetic clones of an original “freak” tree that produced apples perfect for eating or cooking.
However, just because the majority of apples were inedible doesn’t mean colonists left them alone. Apples that were too bitter or acidic to eat were frequently made into cider. In fact, this is likely what American colonists had in mind when they brought apples with them to the New World. The dearth of established apple orchards in North America meant that most of the apples would be grown for cider production. Producing cider from the apple harvest had the added benefits of helping preserve the harvest over winter by creating cider vinegar, which was useful for pickling vegetables for long-term preservation.
American geography is well suited to growing apples, which are native to areas of similar latitude on the Eurasian continent. Perhaps more importantly, the climate of the colonies wasn’t suited to growing any other alcohol-producing sugar sources such as barley (for beer) or grapes (for wine). Fermented beverages were an important source of safe drinking water, and cider was thus a staple in the colonial American diet. By the mid-1700s, the average American was drinking 35 gallons of hard cider a year. Men, women, and children would even drink it for breakfast.
As the colonies spread westward, no single man was more famous for bringing cider to the frontier than John Chapman. Contrary to what you probably learned in elementary school, Johnny Appleseed, as he is known in popular culture, didn’t just plant apple trees and strew apple seeds willy-nilly across the country. Chapman was an entrepreneur and prototypical land speculator. He followed the Ohio River system westward through modern day Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois, planting apple orchards along the way. By staying a few years ahead of the expanding population settlements, Chapman was able to sell his orchards to pioneer families for a considerable profit. The orchards promised a steady supply of income and cider, a source of sustenance, and clean drinking water, and also helped entrench American settlements in the Midwest.
The popularity of cider in America grew as the nation’s territory expanded. George Washington even served up 144 gallons of hard cider during his first successful campaign bid to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758. John Adams drank cider for breakfast when he was serving as president. Cider’s popularity and association as the drink of “everyday Americans” reached its zenith in 1840 when William Henry Harrison was elected president, having run on a “log cabin and hard cider” platform that resonated with voters.
Cider’s former popularity in American culture is almost entirely lost — cider today is viewed as a kind of “soda for grown ups.” Its unfortunate decline as an acceptable beverage can be attributed to the deleterious effects of the Temperance movement, and competition from more urban-friendly fermented beverages like German lager beer. As Americans rediscover a rich historical drinking culture that was nearly eradicated by Prohibition, more craft ciders are appearing in the market.
There is perhaps no more patriotic way to celebrate Independence Day than to try this extremely American fermented beverage. Luckily, there are plenty of quality American options available for drinking on the Fourth of July (and they’re not just Woodchuck or Angry Orchard). Crispin is widely available in most of the United States and they produce a good variety of flavors with different degrees of dryness. If you’re not a fan of the soda taste, look for a dry or semi-dry apple cider. Farnum Hill, which may be hard to find (it’s mostly sold in New England specialty beer stores), describes their flagship cider as “radically dry.” Farnum Hill’s cider is sold in corked bottles, like champagne. For West Coasters and anyone else who likes hops, CiderRiot! in Portland makes a hard cider brewed with ale and wine yeasts, local apples, and Yakima valley hops. Like many of the finest American traditions, our fondness for hard cider was appropriated from somewhere else, in this case England. CiderRiot! pays homage to the English origins of America’s cider drinking traditions. Some of the finest hard ciders around, such as Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider, are still produced by the Brits today, and are an essential ingredient in the famous British beer cocktail, the snakebite.
If you’re looking for something to drink this weekend, I would humbly suggest a nice American dry cider. It will quench your thirst, improve the American economy, and remind you of your patriotic roots. Stay away from the British stuff though, unless you need something to dump in Boston Harbor. Cheers, and happy Independence Day.
But killing babies in the womb is a good thing.
I think they recently discovered GW's still and now have a working replica.
Trust me on this.
They imported a LOT of Rum...the cider was “tea” to them.
The best hard cider I ever tasted is called Strongbow. And it’s English, not American.
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I remember my grandfather telling me that prior to prohibition the beverage of choice was cider. Cider implied that it was alcoholic and apple juice was for the children and ladies.
Beer only came into vogue because many of the bootleggers were of German and Italian heritage. After prohibition was repealed, people continued to drink beer and cider never regained its pre-prohibition status.
I remember my grandfather telling me that prior to prohibition the beverage of choice was cider. Cider implied that it was alcoholic and apple juice was for the children and ladies.
Beer only came into vogue because many of the bootleggers were of German and Italian heritage. After prohibition was repealed, people continued to drink beer and cider never regained its pre-prohibition status.
They also had something called applejack, which had distilled apple brandy added to it.
Doing some genealogy for a friend...found out biggest bootlegger in Town lived across the street from her aunt.
The name applejack derives from the traditional method of producing the drink, jacking, the process of freezing fermented cider and then removing the ice, increasing the alcohol content.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(drink)
In CIDER?
That is a hanging offense in any civilized society.
Portland. What do you expect?
My first experience with alcohol was apple cider left on porch to ferment. I was 8 years old and had no idea it was anything different that fizzy apple drink that tasted funny
Thanks for posting. I’ll start looking for some dry hard cider on Monday, and I’ll get snakebit too.
“I remember my grandfather telling me that prior to prohibition the beverage of choice was cider. Cider implied that it was alcoholic and apple juice was for the children and ladies.
Beer only came into vogue because many of the bootleggers were of German and Italian heritage. “
No, Americans have drunk beer and ale since the colonies were founded.
I had a relative who was a rum runner. Got busted by the revenuers and lost his home.
Fwiw, I not only make cider & applejack (when I can get sufficient/suitable apples) but I also COLLECT vintage recipes for both beverages..
IF any member, who is reading this thread, is willing to share their “old family recipe” for CIDER or ANY of the various fruit-base JACKs and/or GRAPPA, i.e.: APRICOT, ORANGE, PEAR, PEACH, MUSCADINE or other fruit-based homebrewed beverages, PLEASE PM me.
(FYI, individual householders may lawfully produce up to 200 GALLONS of BEER, ALE, WINE, CIDER or FRUIT-JACK for family use, ONLY. - NO homebrewer can SELL any of their product, W/O a federal permit & pre-paying the required EXCISE TAX. - MAKING “untaxed” DISTILLED spirits IS a FEDERAL FELONY & can get you tried/imprisoned, if you are caught.)
Note: My Uncle Josh, from the Post-WWI period until his untimely passing shortly after WWII, was a “BIG PLAYER” in the WHITE LIKKER BUSINESS.
By the end of Prohibition, “our family outlaw” was “running” at least eight 800-GALLON SUBMARINE STILLS 24/365. = An operation of that size should produce at least 3,000 gallons of “GOOD QUALITY” 130 proof LIKKER & EMPLOYED OVER 100 fulltime “STILL HANDS”.
(My maternal grandfather, “Will”, otoh, had an ALL COPPER 18 GALLON “rig for his private/family use”. To my knowledge, he NEVER SOLD a SINGLE DROP of his “very high quality” OR what is called: “white craft likker”, which was made of ONLY pure spring water, white corn & yeast. - NO FLAVORINGS, SUGAR, HONEY or any other ingredients are used to make traditional “craft likker”. - a single “run” out of that 18 GALLON still will yield about 2.2 GALLONS of 100 PROOF “pure corn”.)
BTW, it was NOT “revenuers” and/or FEAR of PROSECUTION/PRISON that essentially KILLED “the commercial moonshine business”. Instead it was the COST of SUGAR & TRANSPORTATION to “market” that mostly killed-off the “outlaw distiller’s business”. - I would also “be less than honest”, IF I did not tell everyone that GROWING MARIJUANA is EASIER & MORE PROFITABLE, per man-hour invested, than the “LIKKER BIZ” ever was AND (if you are caught) has A LESS SEVERE PENALTY AT LAW than making “untaxed likker” has.
yours, satx
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