According to some chroniclers the ancient Britons made cider—or “seider” as the poor ignoramuses wrote it—but it must have been nasty stuff according to our civilized7 ideas; for until the Romans came to visit us the apple was not cultivated in Britain, nor, indeed, any fruit or vegetable. Our blue forefathers8 were not particular as to what they ate or drank; and I should think the fermented10 juice of wild or “crab” apples must have corroded11 the throats of the hardiest12.
It is claimed for cider, and perry, that no fermented drinks do less hurt to the imbiber13; although one authority states that the man who {175} drinks too much of either invariably falls on the back of his head, which sounds rather dangerous. Whether the drinking of cider in moderation conduces to long life deponent sayeth not; but no less an authority than Lord Bacon evidently thought so; and in his History of Life and Death he tells of eight men dancing a Morris-dance, whose ages, added together, were 800 years, “tennants of one Mannour” belonging to the Earl of Essex, and habitual14 cider-drinkers. But the lengthening15 of the days of the imbiber depends, in all probability, upon the brand of cider. I have tasted some varieties which were capable, apparently16, of shortening life, rather than of prolonging it; and in parts of Somersetshire, even at the present day, the locals—case-hardened and poison-proof to a man—swill a horrible decoction, which would probably kill off an alien, at long range, most speedily and effectively.
Cider was called “cidre” and “sithere” by fourteenth century writers; and the word is said to be a corruption17 of the Greek sikera, used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew shekar, usually rendered “strong drink” in the Old Testament19.
“The name of Cider,” says one of these old writers, “if from Sikera, is but a general name for an inebriating20 or an intoxicating21 drink, and may argue their ignorance in those times of any other name than Wine for that liquor or juice in the Saxon or Norman language, either of those nations being unwilling22 (it’s probable) to use a British name for so pleasing a drink, they not affecting the Britains, made use of few of their {176} words; but since that, that wines have been imported from foreign parts in great quantities, the English have been forced to make use of the old British name SEIDER, or Cider, for distinction sake, although the name vinum may be as proper for the juice of the apple as the grape, if it be derived23 either from Vi or Vincendo, or quasi Divinum, as one would have it. Also the vulgar tradition of the scarcity24 of foreign wines in England, viz. that Sack, which was then imported for the most part but from Spain, was sold in the apothecaries’ shops as a cordial medicine; and the vast increase in vineyards in France (Ale and Beer being usual drinks in Spain and France in Pliny’s time) is an argument sufficient that the name of Wine, might be attributed to our British Cider, and of vineyards to the places separated for the propagating the fruit that yields it.”
As a matter of fact the best cider in the world is made in Normandy. And for what purpose do the Normans make it? To send to the Champagne country to be sold to the unsuspecting tourist as the sparkling wine of that district. This is solid truth. Hundreds of millions of gallons are made in Normandy with the most scrupulous25 care, under the supervision26 of experienced chemists, and the bulk is eventually sold as champagne. And not only champagne, but claret, white wines, and even honest, manly28, beautiful, unsophisticated, good old Portuguese29 port, owe their being in some instances to Normandy apples; the rich colour of the port being added by log-wood, beet30-juice, {177} and the root of the rhatany. In fact, genuine port can be so closely imitated as to deceive many a good judge; and it really seems wonderful that the British farmer does not go in for making port wine, with apples so plentiful31 and cheap, and beet, mangels, and elderberries so easy to cultivate. In fact, given the time, and the materials, I am convinced that I could produce an excellent ’98 wine for laying down, for hospital purposes, public rejoicings, or miladi’s boudoir.
Cider, like all other useful drinks, can be, and is, imitated; and Bands of Hope and other well-meaning but misguided associations are chiefly responsible for this. What is known at Sunday-school treats and Salvation32 Army marriage-feasts as “non-alcoholic cider” has been found, on analysis, to be “a water solution of sugar and citric acid, flavoured with apple essence.” It’s the flavouring as does it.
“Harvest cider,” as home-made for the “hands,” is dreadful stuff, and absolutely unfit for human consumption. Apples which have fallen of themselves, or been blown off the trees, “windfalls,” are left on the ground to rot, and be eaten of slugs and wasps33; and are then shovelled34 into the cider-mill, together with leaves, stalks, slugs, wasps, dirt of all sorts, spiders, ear-wigs, wire-worms, “Daddy Long-legs”-es, and—other things; the whole being converted into a species of “hell-broth,” which would have done credit to the best efforts of the witches in Macbeth, when properly mixed.
For a long time the Germans held aloof35 from {178} the man-u-fac-ture of cider. The good Rhine wine, and the flowing and flatulent lager of their own country, were good enough for the Teutonic palate. But when it comes to a question of making money, with the risk reduced to a minimum, Germany seldom “gets left,” as the Yankees say. Some of the inhabitants of the Fatherland discovered, about two decades ago, that there was gelt in cider, and since that time apples have been imported from France, by train-loads, for the purpose of being converted into cider. Germany now exports nearly twelve times as much of this fascinating beverage36 as does France; and under whatever name it may figure in the bills—German Champagne, Military Port, ?pfel-wein, or Sparkling Hock—away goes the apple juice to all parts of the civilized world, including Damascus, Pekin, Khartoum, San Francisco, and Shaftesbury Avenue. In Frankfort-on-the-Maine alone there are more than fifty cider-factories, and the industry brings the town at least half a million sterling37 per annum.
“The fruits of the earth,” says the ancient chronicler quoted above, “and especially of trees, were the first food ordained38 for man to eat.”
And yet I had always understood that it was for eating an apple that our first parents were evicted39 from the garden. But to continue the quotation40.
“And by eating of which (before flesh became his meat) he lived to a far greater age than since any have been observed to have lived. And of all the fruits our Northern parts produce, there’s none more edible41, nor more wholesome42 than Apples; {179} which by the various preparations of the cook are become a part of our table entertainment almost throughout the year, and are esteem’d to be very temperate43 and nourishing.
“They relax the belly44, which is a very good property in them; but the sweet more than the sharp. They help concoction45, eaten after meat, with a little bread: you may be confident that an apple eaten after supper”—paste this in your hats, ye revellers—“depresseth all offensive vapours that otherwise would offend the head, and hinder sleep. Apples rosted, scalded, or otherwise prepared, according to the skill of the operatour, are good in many hot diseases, against Melancholy46, and the Pleurisie.
“But Cider is much to be preferr’d, it being the more pure and active part separated from the impure47 and feculent; and without all, peradventure, is the most wholesome drink that is made in Europe for our ordinary use, as before is observed. For its specifick vertues, there is not any drink more effectual against the Scurvy48. It is also prevalent against the Stone, and by its mundifying qualities is good against the diseases of the Spleen, and is esteem’d excellent against Melancholy.”
Possibly the course of time has made us merrier than our forbears; at all events “mel-an-choly” is a disease for which no remedy is prescribed in the modern editions of the Pharmacop?ia. What with musical farces49, and Arthur Roberts, and the means to purchase a “livener” next morning, no citizen of London is justified50 in the possession of lowness of spirits. {180}
Making cider is easy enough, but requires, like all other man-u-fac-tures, care and a modicum51 of common sense. And here let me join issue with those who maintain that the inferiority of English cider is due to the antiquated52 methods employed in making it. In the first place I question the inferiority; and in the second, although it is a fact that there is very little difference between the methods of to-day and two hundred years ago, we are more careful, on the whole, in the selection of the material. Far more important than complicated machinery53 is the proper choice of apples. Grow these in a scientific way, and do not eat all the best for dessert. The cider apple should be neither green nor over-ripe—and certainly not rotten like those used occasionally for the harvesters—free from injury (and therefore not a “windfall”) and just full ripe. The selected fruit should be placed in a mill which breaks them up and pulps54 them; the pulp55 is then put under a press, and squeezed dry to the last drop. The liquid is then left to ferment9, and this process should be very gradual, and be closely watched. Finally the cider is drawn56 off, the finest qualities being bottled, and they may be regarded as pure wine. At all events they are frequently sold “as sich.”
It is claimed that cider, when pure and well made, is not merely an extremely wholesome drink, but a very helpful one to those who suffer from gout or rheumatism57. It is asserted that cider will even cure these painful disorders58, and that those who drink the juice of the apple are far less subject to aching joints59 and limbs than {181} other quaffers. It is the “malic acid” in the liquor which is so inimical to these diseases; and as a cider-drinker of considerable experience, and a sad sufferer, at times, from both diseases, I can safely say that there is no “touch” of either in the “natural” Norfolk cider made by Messrs. Gaymer—a dry wine which is very palatable60, and is one of the best and the most wholesome of beverages61.
Cider at its strongest does not contain a large percentage of alcohol, and its makers62 contend that its qualities are more health-giving and far less heady than those of any other liquor con-sumed in England. Ac-cord-ing to Mr. Rad-cliffe Cooke, an enthusiast63 on the subject, the revival in the cider industry dates from 1890, and there is every hope that that industry will flourish more and more, through the centuries. The recognized cider fruit may be divided into “bitter-sweets”—such as the so-called Norman apples and the Wildings—and the “red” fruits, such as the nearly extinct “Red Streak64.” The best cider is made from an admixture of the two sorts. But the gout-fuge cider, we gather from another writer, should be made from a single sort of apple.
“There is no difficulty,” writes Mr. Cooke, “in expressing the apple juice; but the fermentation process is not sufficiently65 studied, and it is here that failure commonly occurs.”
“As for the making of Perry and Cider,” writes an authority of the seventeenth century, “which are drinkes much used in the West parts, and other countries well stored with fruit in this {182} kingdome; you shall know that your perry is made of peares onely, and your cider of apples; and for the manner of making thereof, it is done after one fashion, that is to say, after your Peares and Apples are well prickt from the stalkes, rottennesse, and all manner of other filthe, you shall put them in the presse mill which is made with a mil-stone running round in a circle, under which you shall crush your peares or apples, and then straining them through a bagge of haire cloth, tunne up the same (after it hath bene a little setled) into hogs-heads, barrels, and other close vessels66.
“Now after you have prest all, you shall save that which is within the haire cloth bagge, and putting it into severall vessels, put a pretty quantity of water thereinto, and after it hath stood a day or two, and hath beene well stirred together, presse it over also againe, for this will make a small perry or cider, and must be spent first. Now of your best cider that which you make of your summer or sweete fruit you shall call summer or sweete cider or perry, and that you shall spend first also; and that which you make of the winter and hard fruit, you shall call winter and sowre cider, or perry; and that you may spend last, for it will indure the longest.”
We don’t boil much cider nowadays, but this was a custom in con-sid-er-able favour with the ancients.
“In many places,” says another writer, “they boyl their cider, adding thereto several spices, which makes it very pleasant, and abates68 the unsavoury smack69 it contracts by boyling, but {183} withal gives it a high colour. This way is not to be commended, because the juice of the apple is either apt to extract some ill savour from the brass70 or copper71, we being not acquainted with any other vessels to boyl it in, or the sediment72 of it is apt to burn by its adhering to the sides of the vessel67, it being boyl’d in a naked fire.
“But if you are willing to boyl your cider, your vessel ought to be of Latten, which may be made large enough to boyl a good quantity, the Tin yielding no bad tincture to the liquor. . . . It many times happens that cider that hath been good, by ill-management or other accident becomes dead, flat, sowr, thick, muddy, or musty; all which in some sort or other may be cured. You may cure deadness or flatness in cider by grinding a small parcel of apples, and putting them in at the bung-hole, and stopping it close, only sometimes trying it by opening the small vent27 that it force not the vessel; but then you must draw it off in a few days, either into bottles or another vessel, lest the Murc corrupt18 the whole mass. Cider that is dead or flat will oftentimes revive again of itself, if close stopt, upon the revolution of the year and approaching summer.”
Hippocras.
Here is an ancient recipe:—
Take of cardamoms, carpobalsamum, of each half an ounce, coriander-seeds prepared, nutmegs, ginger73, of each two ounces, cloves74 two drachms; bruise75 and infuse them two days in two gallons of the richest sweetest cider, often stirring it together, then add {184} thereto of milk three pints76, strain all through an hippocras bag, and sweeten it with a pound of sugar-candy.
D’you kna-ow—as the curate in The Private Secretary says—I am not taking any hippocras to-day.
“Wormwood imbib’d in cider,” says another writer, “produceth the effect that it doth in wine.” Evidently some nasty effect; only conceive an admixture of absinthe and cider!
That the ancients loved mixtures—and sweet mixtures—is pretty evident from the writings of Pliny and others. Were a man to invite me to drink apple juice in the which had been bottled dried juniper-berries, I should probably hit that man in the eye, or send for a policeman. But two or three hundred years ago “juniper-cider” appears to have been a popular drink, although we read that “the taste thereof is somewhat strange, which by use will be much abated77.”
Ginger, cloves, cinnamon, currants, honey, rosemary, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, and “clove-July-flowers,” all used to be put into cider, by way of flavouring; “but the best addition,” says the same writer, “that can be to it is that of the lees of Malaga Sack or Canary new and sweet, about a gallon to a hogshead; this is a great improver and a purifier of cider.”
Evidently in those days they had some crude sort of ideas on the subject of Cider Cup.
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1
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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longevity
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| n.长命；长寿 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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5
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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7
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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8
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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9
ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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10
fermented
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| v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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11
corroded
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| 已被腐蚀的 | |
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12
hardiest
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| 能吃苦耐劳的，坚强的( hardy的最高级 )； （植物等）耐寒的 | |
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13
imbiber
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14
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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15
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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16
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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17
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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18
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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19
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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20
inebriating
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| vt.使酒醉，灌醉（inebriate的现在分词形式） | |
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21
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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22
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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24
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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25
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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26
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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29
Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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beet
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| n.甜菜；甜菜根 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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33
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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shovelled
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| v.铲子( shovel的过去式和过去分词 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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evicted
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| v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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41
edible
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| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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45
concoction
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| n.调配(物)；谎言 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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47
impure
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| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
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48
scurvy
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| adj.下流的，卑鄙的，无礼的；n.坏血病 | |
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49
farces
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| n.笑剧( farce的名词复数 )；闹剧；笑剧剧目；作假的可笑场面 | |
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50
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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modicum
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| n.少量，一小份 | |
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antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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53
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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54
pulps
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| 水果的肉质部分( pulp的第三人称单数 )； 果肉； 纸浆； 低级书刊 | |
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pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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56
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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57
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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58
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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59
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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60
palatable
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| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
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61
beverages
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| n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 ) | |
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62
makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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63
enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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64
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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67
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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68
abates
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| 减少( abate的第三人称单数 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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69
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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70
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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71
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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72
sediment
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| n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物) | |
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73
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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74
cloves
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| n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic) | |
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75
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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76
pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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77
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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