Apple cider

For the alcoholic beverage known in the U.S. as hard apple cider, see cider

American-style apple cider, left; Apple juice, right.

Apple cider is the name used especially in the United States and parts of Canada for a non-alcoholic beverage produced from apples by a process of pressing. It is more sour and cloudy than conventional apple juice, retaining the tart flavor of the apple pulp which is lost in conventional fruit juice production.

Cider is mostly thought to be best in late autumn, corresponding with the harvest season, and is a popular traditional beverage on Halloween and Thanksgiving, heated if the weather is especially cold.

Production

In the United States, well over 12,000,000 gallons of apple cider are pressed each year. Apple cider was (like other forms of cider were) traditionally fermented, but that alcoholic apple drink is now referred to in the United States as hard cider. Today in the US (and Canada to some extent), apple cider is a nonalcoholic beverage; a subcategory of apple juice traditionally made from early-harvest apples which have a lower sugar content and are more acidic, thus cider has a more tart, tangy taste than apple juice. It is generally (though not always) unfiltered, giving it a somewhat cloudier appearance from suspended solids.

Apple cider is rarely sold unpasteurized, generally on-site at small orchards. Some seek unpasteurized juice based on the common but disputed belief that less-processed products are healthier.

Due to outbreaks of salmonellosis, enterohemorrhagic E. coli infections, cryptosporidiosis, cholera and other serious illnesses from unpasteurized fruit juices in general and apple cider in particular, the U.S. FDA now requires that virtually all fruit and vegetable juice producers follow HACCP controls, using either heat pasteurization, UV treatment or other proven methods. As a result, all apple cider sold in the United States, other than sales directly to consumers by producers (such as juice bars), must be produced using HACCP principles to achieve a 100,000 fold reduction in pathogens. While the use of certain UV treatments or other technologies meet legal requirements, heat pasteurization is the most commonly used method.

Even before the 2001 legislation, most apple cider distributed in the U.S. was pasteurized. Even so, unpasteurized cider was linked to approximately 16,000 to 48,000 cases of foodborne illnesses each year, according to the FDA.

Variations

Unpasteurized Massachusetts cider.

Apple ciders are often made from blends of several different apples to give a balanced taste. There is some local competitiveness among cider mills in apple country for the highest quality blends, and makers keep their formulas secret. One trick used to add interest to a cider blend is the addition of a percentage of crabapples. Cider doughnuts are often sold at cider mills and contain cider in the batter. Visiting apple orchards in the fall for cider, doughnuts and you-pick apples is a large segment in U.S. agritourism.

Hot apple cider or mulled cider (also known as "Wassail") is a popular fall (autumn) and winter beverage, consisting of apple cider, heated to a temperature just below boiling, with cinnamon, orange peel, nutmeg, cloves, or other spices added.

Another cider available in the US and Canada is sparkling cider, a carbonated nonalcoholic beverage made from filtered apple cider. Common brands of sparkling cider are Martinelli's and Pepin Heights (in season).

American definition

In the United States, the distinction between apple juice and cider is not legally well established, but cider is usually understood in common usage to be cloudier, unfiltered and less processed. Nevertheless, some large U.S. corporations continue to market the same clear, filtered, processed, and pasteurized apple juice as "apple cider".