Brief History of Cider

Transcription

1 Brief History of Cider

2 Cider Terms Scion the selected apple variety that you plan to graph onto your tree Hogshead a unit of measure stemming from the Dutch word Ox-Hooven. Equals about 63 gallons of cider A Barrel the US standard measurement for beer & cider. Equals 31 gallons New England Cider fermented cider with brown sugar and raisins or grapes Cyser A honey cider blend Scrumpy The English term for craft locally made cider Tannic compounds that are produced within the apple that can make for a bittering taste Astringent the dry, puckering mouthfeel caused by a combination of tannins and other naturally occurring chemicals in apples Single Varietal the use of just one variety in the making of a particular cider Racking to move the cider from one tank to the next so as to clarify and remove the semisolids

3 A Brief Cider HISTory 35,000 BC First known depictions of apples in Paleolithic caves Carbonized remains of apples found in Anatolia dating back to 6,500 BC and in Neolithic settlements in what is now Italy and Sweeden dating back to 2000 BC 8000 years ago apples appear as an article of trade from India to China and the eastern Mediterranean and a cultivated crop in many surrounding lands including Persia, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia Cyser (Honey-Cider) recipes found in Mesopotamian areas Roman introduction of cultivated apples leads to explosion in techniques in England First recorded references date to Roman times 55 BC Romans found the Celtics fermenting their native crab apples Techniques spread to the French and Basque regions making Cidre 5 th century AD collapse of Romans pushed knowledge to protected hands of the Christian monastic orders and the Islamic Moors. While French and English get the credit, the Spanish were believed to be making Sidra before the birth of Christ Norman conquest re-invigorates the West Country orchards of England and through the 1720 s cider making is led by farmers but the Industrial revolution kills the quality of cider by pushing it to mass distribution..

4 Cider An American History Apples are the first crops introduced to the new world Only native apples are crab 1623 First cultivated apples planted in Boston Planted by William Blackstone (Blaxton) His Rhode Island Orchard introduces Blaxtons Yellow Sweeting around 1640 The other first cultivated apple of the Americas is believed to be the Roxbury Russet discovered before 1647 Cider plays the most crucial role in the new economy from the 1640s to 1775 New England to Georgia 1776 New England Historians claim per-capita consumption is 35gallons By out of 10 farms in New England was a cidery President John Adams advertises drinking a tankard of cider every day promotes good health (lives to be 90) John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) born 1774 becomes apple entrepreneur Operates nursery in Susquehanna Valley of PA Travels throughout PA, OH, and IN preaching and planting 1801 New Englanders argue why even bother making beer when cider is so healthy and easy to make By the late 1800s, American apples and cider are being exported to Europe By 1899 production is at a record 55million gallons of cider a year

5 The Dark Days of American Cider 1830 s Temperance movement brands cider orchards as demon orchards During the 1800 s many farmers took axes to their orchards and swore off cider 1850s post civil war migration of people looking for work in big cities leaves many cider farms abandoned Industrial revolution coupled with urbanization makes beer cheaper to produce German immigrants and other northern European immigrants push beer front and center More apples being grown for shipping and eating than cider Another blow hits with an unusually frigid winter wiping out orchards By the time Prohibition is enacted in 1919 cider production is down to 13million gallons a year After just a few years this once proud American tradition is kept alive only by certain farmers and enthusiasts

6 Cider A Boyertown History Golden era about Apples were $4/bushel for first grade ($1.50/dozen) down times 1881 Transcontinental Railroad put enormous pressure on the PA market. Berks County apple grower laments scarcely pays to haul out of the orchard to the mills at six cents per bushel PA Dutch model single farmstead with the family forming the unit. Distinguished by the excellent layout of the orchard compared to the other English, Welsh, Scotch-Irish, etc. Keim Orchards and Funks 1892 Baumans opens first area press 1920s to 1945 Electricity and engines modernized the farm and orchard. Funks, Keims, Shanesville, Ungers, Beekman, Boyertown Fruit Farms (Irey s)) 1950 s over 2500 acres of trees in the area 1944 Boyertown Fruit Farms becomes Frecon Orchards Purchased from Henry Funk 1951 One of the areas first roadside markets opens by Mary Frecon 1970 First area major retail outlet opens.- Henry Frecon II 2009 First area Cidery opens Steve and Henry Frecon and Jamie Bock and Josh Smith

7 Blast from the past

8 Early Cider Mill

9 Baumans Cider Press

10 They don t make em like they used to Order for Hydraulic Cider Press Machinery And Herring Evaporator Purchased May 24th 1892 Total Cost $ (includeds 5% off for cash purchase Delivered to Baumans Sassmansville, PA

11 What you have told us is all very good. It is indeed bad to eat apples. It is better to make them into cider Benjamin Franklin Reporting on an Ameican Indian s response to hearing the story of Adam and Eve