Apple cider is one of the greatest joys of the Autumn season, a richly seasoned beverage that warms the stomach and soul in equal measure. Apple Cider Day finds its roots in the history of that self-same beverage, a drink which has been enjoyed in various forms for as long as apples and presses have coexisted. Cider is also known as the fermented version of apple juice in the rest of the world and is prepared in a manner much like beer. In the Americas, however, it is instead referring to an unfermented drink that is merely the result of putting the apples through a press. The results are neither filtered nor sweetened in the manner of apple juice, and instead results in a drink that has excellent body and a natural flavor to please the palate.
- Kids were baptized in cider during the 14th century because it was believed that cider was more sanitary than water.
- President John Adams drank cider every morning because he believed it promoted good health. Adams lived to 90 years old.
- Some cider apple names: “Hangdown,” “Kentish Fill-Basket,” “Glory of the West.”
- It takes about 36 apples to make one gallon of apple cider.
- Caesar’s troops brought back apple cider after storming England in 55 BCE.
- On November 18th, 1307 The legendary William Tell shot an apple from his son’s head. November 18th is now National Apple Cider Day.
- In the 19th Century cider was advertised as a cure for the gout and other illnesses.
- Some companies will use the term cider to refer to apple juice with no preservatives, and apple juice to juice that has been pasteurized.
- When the Romans stormed through England in 55 BCE, they found Celts sipping a brew made from crab apples. The troops were quick to pick up the habit and take it back to Rome.
- Farm workers’ wages in earlier times included four pints of cider a day.
- At one time, 365 different varieties of cider apples were grown.
- Cider is equally enjoyed by men and women, but women drink half the volume of men.
- There are more than 7,500 different varieties of apples in the world, so if you had the recommended “apple a day”, it would take 20 years to try them all.
- In 2014, a study found that a pint of mass-market cider contained five teaspoons (20.5 g / 0.72 oz) of sugar, nearly the amount the WHO recommends as an adult’s daily allowance of added sugar, and 5–10 times the amount of sugar in lager or ale.
- At one point in the 1800s, the average resident of Massachusetts was consuming 35 gallons of cider a year.
- Archaeologists have found evidence that people have been eating apples since 6,500B.C.
- The science of growing apples is called pomology.
- Most apples in the world are still picked by hand.
- If you’ve ever wondered why apples float it’s because they’re 25 percent air, giving us the ability to bob for apples in a barrel of water.
- Apples are a member of the rose family of plants, which also includes pears, peaches, cherries, and plums.
- When John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, blasted off on his initial space flight, he carried with him pureed applesauce in squeezable tubes.
- After nearly a decade with Red Delicious as the apple darling of the United States, Gala apples are now the nation’s favorite.
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