When summer comes around, do you always feel a little lazy and uninspired and just want to drink something cold and aerated? If you think beer is too ordinary and you want to drink something new and interesting, take someone’s advice and try cider!
Cider, or Cider, is low in alcohol, sweet and tart, and has a small amount of sparkle. A bottle of cider can be very refreshing at any time. The History of Cider
Our ancestors learned to make wine from fruit as early as 7,000 years ago. At that time, people gathered wild fruits and naturally fermented them into delicious juices that were a source of great joy. Since then, wine has been inseparable from human life. In ancient times, science was not well developed. People did not know how wine fermentation worked, let alone the existence of yeast, and thought that fermentation was some kind of mysterious force.
Basically, all fruits can be made, of which wine is the most famous, and cider is the second most popular fruit wine after wine. The earliest systematic records of apple juice fermentation and wine making date back to 55 BC when the Romans entered what is now Kent, England, and discovered that the natives could make cider. There are also records of cider in documents from all over Europe in the 13th century. Cider was one of the most popular drinks in Europe and America in the 19th century and is still popular in some countries in Europe and America.
There is a wide variety of cider, and like beer, it is also produced on a large scale and is relatively “boring” “cider. The bjcp’s Beer Style Classification Guide also includes a section on cider, which classifies ciders as dry, semi-dry, medium, semi-sweet and sweet based on the amount of residual sugar. In addition, the guide mentions that cider can be non-foaming or b-formed very well, but ciders without air bubbles are much less common, see again. Also, like wine, cider can be made from a single variety or a mixture of different cider varieties. In some regions, cider is also matured in oak barrels and other containers, which can take weeks to years, so the types and styles of cider can be very diverse!
Cider Making Process Traditional cider is made from 100% fermented apple juice. The varieties of cider are different from the common edible apple. They are more acidic, have thicker skin and more pronounced tannins. They are not tasty on their own, but are great for wine making (just as many grapes for wine making are not tasty). Simply put, cider is made by extracting the fresh juice from apples and fermenting it with yeast.
So how, exactly, is cider made? In fact, the process consists of chopping, juicing, fermenting, ripening, blending and bottling the apples after harvesting, similar to that of wine and other fruit wines. Chopping and juicing: Apples are not easy to extract juice from, so first you need to chop the pulp, then squeeze the puree and extract the juice. Fermentation: After collecting the pressed juice, yeast can be added to start the fermentation process. Some breweries will use wild yeast for fermentation, but the process will be more uncontrollable. During the fermentation of cider, a unique “malolactic fermentation” takes place, which transforms the intense acidity of malic acid into a more rounded lactic acid, which is also common in wine fermentation.
Maturation: After fermentation, the cider is usually allowed to rest for a period of time. As mentioned above, some wineries will use barrels for maturation, which can range from a few weeks to several years. Blending: Blending is a very important part of the cider-making process, ensuring consistency in quality and taste from batch to batch, and achieving a balance of flavours. In addition, some brands add apple juice or sugar here to adjust the sweetness and taste. Bottling: The final bottling step is also important. In the case of sparkling cider, it is usually re-infused with carbon dioxide, but some makers do this by adding sugar to the bottle and fermenting it a second time (similar to champagne).
Cider from around the world Cider is traditionally drunk in many parts of the world and was introduced to New World countries such as the United States and Australia with the colonisation of Britain. In today’s world, cider from England, France and Spain is the best. It is the three main players in the cider phase, each with different styles and traditions.
The UK produces around 500,000 tonnes of cider a year, accounting for over 60% of the total production in the EU. It is the largest producer in the world. Britain produces a lot of cider for the mass market, but there is also a traditional home brewed cider called scrumpy, which uses completely natural fermentation, usually without filtering or excessive adjustment, and tends to be drier, more complex and wilder in flavour.
French cider comes from the northern regions of Normandy and Brittany, also considered to be one of the birthplaces of cider. The cider here is sweet, tannic and naturally bubbly, using a unique “keeving” process to remove excess nutrients from the juice, which effectively extends the fermentation time of the yeast, making the fermentation process gentler and providing a more complex flavour.
Also interesting is Sidra, a cider from the Asturias and Basque regions of Spain, made from high acidity apples and fermented in oak barrels. The fermentation temperature is higher and it has a wilder sour beer. People here drink Sidra by dropping it from a height and injecting more bubbles into the wine to give it more flavor. In northeastern Spain there are also many apple hotels where you can taste Sidra, called Sidrias. It is a place where the locals like to get together and socialize. Don’t miss the opportunity to travel there.
