Historic/Colonial cider making?

[Freki]

I have done a few searches with different keywords hoping to turn up something, and I have had just as much luck with the Google. I find references to cider, but nothing regarding the process or the recipes used in the Colonial period. I DID find some information regarding Jefferson's orchards and his preference for Taliaferro apples... which is a variant that seems to have vanished to history. The lack of information is quite frustrating considering I live in one of the original shires of the Virginia colony, I would think there would be SOMETHING, especially with the popularity of cider in the Colonial era. Does anyone know of anywhere I can look or have sources I can check out? Or even keywords that will turn up results?

 

[madscientist451]

They didn't use recipes. They knew which apples made the best cider, but they didn't waste things like we do now, so ALL the apples they didn't eat were processed into juice, placed in barrels and wild fermented over the winter. The best cider was reserved for special occasions or to sell or trade. The lower grade cider was for everyday drinking. Some of the cider was distilled into apple brandy (applejack) and some was allowed to sit in open barrels, allowed to freeze and the ice was removed to make a higher ABV cider.
The founding fathers all made their own cider and beer and didn't bother to put the right to make and sell those beverages in the Bill of Rights because they could never have imagined a tyrannical government would emerge that would exert control over something that God provides, specifically, fermented beverages like cider.

 

[Maylar]

"Give me yesterday's bread, this day's flesh, and last year's cider".
Benjamin Franklin

 

[bucketnative]

If you've ever watched the BBC Farm series... Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm give some nice historical presentations of how cider was made in those two eras. I'm guessing that, besides some improvement in the implements, not much changed in the process for the hundred or so years leading up to these eras.

Victorian Farm, Epsiode 1 () Around the 43:00 mark.

Edwardian Farm, Epsiode 2 () Around the 16:00 mark.

I like these series as a whole.

 

[Evan55]

Check out Vintage Virginia Apples / Albermarle Ciderworks in Charlottesville.
Lots of heirloom varieties from the colonial era that they have resurrected

 

[Freki]

They didn't use recipes. They knew which apples made the best cider, but they didn't waste things like we do now, so ALL the apples they didn't eat were processed into juice, placed in barrels and wild fermented over the winter. The best cider was reserved for special occasions or to sell or trade. The lower grade cider was for everyday drinking. Some of the cider was distilled into apple brandy (applejack) and some was allowed to sit in open barrels, allowed to freeze and the ice was removed to make a higher ABV cider.
The founding fathers all made their own cider and beer and didn't bother to put the right to make and sell those beverages in the Bill of Rights because they could never have imagined a tyrannical government would emerge that would exert control over something that God provides, specifically, fermented beverages like cider.

I would think there would have been some surviving texts/documentations to at least give indications to the sorts of apples beyond the Taliaferro Jefferson preferred (which apparently gained popularity in Williamsburg, where I spend most of my time). I have had more luck turning up the distilled spirits recipes/blends of the period.

 

[Freki]

If you've ever watched the BBC Farm series... Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm give some nice historical presentations of how cider was made in those two eras. I'm guessing that, besides some improvement in the implements, not much changed in the process for the hundred or so years leading up to these eras.

Victorian Farm, Epsiode 1 () Around the 43:00 mark.

Edwardian Farm, Epsiode 2 () Around the 16:00 mark.

I like these series as a whole.

I had seen these before, but was trying to find more information to what was done in the Colonies (preferably Virginia), and if there were differences in blends, techniques, preferred cultivars of apples.

 

[Freki]

Check out Vintage Virginia Apples / Albermarle Ciderworks in Charlottesville.
Lots of heirloom varieties from the colonial era that they have resurrected

I know where I'm going next Friday! Wish it was a bit closer to the Peninsula though!

 

[Freki]

"Give me yesterday's bread, this day's flesh, and last year's cider".
Benjamin Franklin

A towel you may need Grabbed one for a friend a couple years ago.

 

[canuckbrew]

Is 1935 old enough for you?
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2597&context=theses

Edit: This is on non-fermented cider but interesting none the less.

 

[Freki]

Is 1935 old enough for you?
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2597&context=theses

Edit: This is on non-fermented cider but interesting none the less.

it's about 160 years too new. Good read though! Thanks for that one.