November
18th is National Apple Cider Day in the United States. I don’t know when it
became an official Holiday.
Apple cider
(also called sweet cider or soft cider) is the name used in the United States
and parts of Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made
from apples. Though typically referred to simply as "cider" in those
areas, it is not to be confused with the alcoholic beverage known as cider
throughout most of the world, called hard cider (or just cider) in North
America.
Once widely
pressed at farmsteads and local mills, apple cider is now easy and inexpensive
to make. Apple cider can be differentiated from apple
juice in that apple juice is typically filtered to take out apple particles,
pasteurized to maximize shelf-life, and sugar and water are often added to the
beverage. Because of its limited shelf-life, untreated cider has become a
seasonal beverage produced mostly in fall and winter months, making it a
popular holiday beverage.
Today, most
cider is treated to kill bacteria and extend its shelf life, but untreated
cider can still be found. Apple cider is a seasonally produced drink of limited
shelf-life that is typically available only in autumn. It is traditionally
served on the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and various New Year's Eve
holidays, sometimes heated and mulled. It is the official state beverage of New
Hampshire.
Apples are not a fruit native to the North
American continent. After finding only inedible crab apples on the continent,
apple seeds were brought to America by colonial settlers from England in the
17th century. The first apple orchard in North America was planted in Boston in
1625. Seeds from Europe were cultivated on Colonial farms as well as spread
throughout Native American trade routes. John Chapman, known by many as “Johnny
Appleseed,” traveled ahead of western-bound settlers in America and began to
plant small cider apple orchards across the Midwest.
The Fall is
a perfect time to make a nice warm cup of cider and enjoy as the snow hits,
leaves fall, and the temperature drops. If you’re lucky enough to be in a city
where fall doesn’t really exist, then there’s nothing wrong with some chilled
cider either. Cider can be enjoyed cold or “mulled” by
making the cider hot and adding spices like clove and cinnamon.
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