Venus Rising

Food for SoulIssue: Libra 09 - The Relationship Issue

Now is The Time for Apple Cider

Watercolor by Philip GaligaMake your way to an orchard and experience the taste of autumn in a cold fresh glass of this season’s nectar. Cider presses are humming this time of year and their juices are cold off the press. True apple cider is hard to come by, with only preservative-filled and pasteurized versions available at your grocer, so now is the time to visit an orchard or farm stand where real cider is made. 

Since cider is only made in the fall in Vermont, when apples are plentiful and fully ripe, some folks freeze cider to have throughout the year. Fresh cider is highly perishable and therefore another way to save the apple juice is to ferment it into hard cider, which is an alcoholic version of apple cider. Hard cider is generally not sweet and by filtering out added and organic yeasts it becomes more translucent than apple cider. It also has fizz and a consistency akin to lager or red ale. 

Throughout history “cider” generally refers to hard, or fermented, cider. It is difficult to determine when the first cider was made and whether it was hard or sweet (soft) cider. To find its origin, one likely has to go back to the origin of its fruit…did Adam and Eve drink cider? Most writings indicate that Romans discovered hard cider in England, where it was already well established. It is also clear that it was a prevalent beverage in Europe, where Monks produced and sold it and workers often took it as wages. Colonists brought cider apple seeds to the Americas and started a hard cider tradition in the New World. Its consumption grew up until 1919, the era of prohibition, when it dropped considerably. Sweet cider continued during this time however, although its popularity for growers never reached the peak hard cider did, mostly due to its perish-ability.

Apple cider is made from pressed apples with nothing added and nothing taken away. The apples are crushed into a pomace and juice pressed from the pomace. There are no added sweeteners, spices, stabilizers or preservatives, and it is unfiltered so it carries some apple pulp and remnants of apple.A tourist event in New England, there is nothing like eating a fresh cider doughnut, dunked in hot apple cider. But don’t deny yourself the fresh cold cider coming straight from the press. Well-made, fresh apple cider is a rich, opaque, dark amber juice with a viscosity similar to dark stout or whole milk. It is sweet, but if made with a mix of apples, it has a perfect balance of sweet, sour, tart and acid. One taste and you will want more. 

Golden Puffs

(Makes about 2 ½ dozen)