The story of Egyptian brick movers can't be verified because of its age, but in English farms in the14th century, farmers there did pay cider, that is, cider. As part of their wages, workers got about two liters of cider every day, which can be used to replace one-fifth of their wages at most. This tradition continued until 1887.
Seeing that the British people are addicted to cider and getting thinner, the British government finally passed a new trading bill, which will abolish the way of deducting wages from cider, and all wages must be paid to workers in monetary form. At this point, cider officially ended its 500-year history as a hard currency.
Home packed cider (about 2 pints a bottle)
Up to today, the per capita consumption of cider in Britain still ranks first in the world. Cider is a must-have for wine lists in British bars and restaurants, and it is also a frequent visitor to liquor stores. There are nearly 500 cider manufacturers in Britain, and there are more than 350 kinds of apples brewed, even more than beer. The annual output of British cider is about 500,000 tons, accounting for more than 60% of the whole Europe. It can also be regarded as a masterpiece of global cider production, even surpassing France, which introduced cider to Britain. France, as an old wine producer, the top position of wine on the wine table is really extremely difficult to shake.
Cider farmers in Normandy
In 55 BC, when the Romans invaded Great Britain, in order to let the veterans settle down, they finally built an apple orchard in England. Well, it was a fierce battle. At that time, the idea was probably: drink a broken movie and you won't go home noisily. . . However, when it comes to the opportunity for cider to really take root in Britain, we have to say the famous Norman Conquest in history-Norman Conquest (A.D. 1066, which was also the fuse of the Hundred Years War between Britain and France).
William the Conqueror of the Duke of Normandy was later crowned King of England-William the Conqueror of William Ⅰ the Conqueror. During his reign in England, he not only promoted the feudalization of England, but also greatly promoted the development of apple wine industry in England. Apple orchards in Kent, Somerset and Hampshire were gradually equipped with their own juicers after the French brought Pearmain and Corstard, which were suitable for wine making.
At the same time, the development of Old English has entered a trough. After the Norman Conquest, French became the official language, and a large number of French words (mostly political, legal, religious and food words) began to be mixed into English. From the spelling of the word cider in English, it is not difficult to see the original form of the word Cidre in French.
William the Conqueror of William Ⅰ the Conqueror and His Hairline.
As for the origin of cider, it is generally believed that it first appeared in the Mediterranean basin in Pliny's era in the 1 century, and it was a kind of drink that people inadvertently got in the process of preserving apple juice (I won't say that I accidentally spoiled the delicious apple juice ... I feel like wine? )。 In the 2nd century AD, cider gradually spread to Europe. In the 4th century AD, St. Jerome used "Sicera" (Latin meaning intoxicating drink) to describe this alcoholic beverage made of apple juice.
Traditional fermented cider (museum model)
But it really flourished in Normandy and Brittany in the northwest of France in the early Middle Ages (8th century AD), and in the Basque country near the Pyrenees mountains bordering France in northern Spain. Basque cuisine has also deeply influenced the eating habits in southwest France.
Basque region of Spain
The author who has always painted the map of France as a map of wine producing areas found that there seems to be no winery in the northwest corner of the Atlantic Ocean (below the famous Loire Valley). The reason is that the local humid and rainy climate is not suitable for producing high-quality wine (the author magically covered his face after a summer internship in the cider winery in Normandy ... and then watched his friends coming out of the vineyard turn black into charcoal, and his mood was really picturesque). The local monks tactfully found that apples can also brew all kinds of mellow wines.
Monks all over the world, it seems, besides chanting scriptures every day, especially like the sideline of brewing wine, and pour wine whenever they have time, such as Ginja: Christmas Special, a cherry liqueur developed by Portuguese monks. What can I drink besides boiling red wine today? Therefore, apple wine with sweet and sour taste, rich nutrition and low alcohol content (usually 2-8 degrees) gradually became popular, and finally reached the peak of its life-becoming the second fruit wine in the world (second only to wine).
A dazzling array of cider
Brew apples
As the king of temperate fruits, there are many kinds of apples, which can be divided into fresh apples (Pomme de table), brewed apples (Pomme à cidre) and cooked apples (Pomme à cuire). China, which accounts for half of the world's total apple production, is a well-deserved apple kingdom, but most of them are fresh apples.
19 kinds of common fresh apples
In France, there are more than 800 varieties of apples used only for wine making, of which more than 500 are common. A wine apple can be called by considering many factors such as brix, specific gravity, tannin content, total acid and juice yield. In the big family of brewing apples, according to their own specialties, we can simply and rudely divide them into three gangs:
Sweet apple (French: Pomme douce): in charge of the alcohol and residual sugar content of cider.
Sour apple (French: Pomme acide): responsible for the acidity of cider and ensuring the sugar-acid balance of the wine body.
Bitter apple (French: Pomme amère): in charge of the content of polyphenols such as tannins in cider, which holds up a sky in the mouth of the taster.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to brew a bottle of cider with balanced taste only by a single variety of apples. For example, in France, the varieties and proportions of different kinds of cider in different producing areas are stipulated (similar to the requirements for varieties of AOP wine), so the cider bought in the market contains at least two or more apples.
Brewers mix and squeeze different apples.
Classification and technology of cider
According to the sweetness of cider:
? Doux: The residual sugar in wine is higher than 42g/L, and the alcohol content is usually between 2-3 degrees.
? Half a second: The residual sugar in wine is 18 ~ 42g/L, and the alcohol content is usually between 3 ~ 4 degrees.
? Brut: The residual sugar in wine is below 18g/L, usually the alcohol content is between 5 and 6 degrees, and some even reach 8 degrees.
The author practiced three types of cider (from right to left): Brut, Demi-sec and Doux.
According to the color of cider:
? Cidre: The color of cider varies from light yellow to golden amber or even dark brown due to the influence of different juicing methods, fermentation techniques and raw materials.
? Pink cider Cidre Rosé: Pink cider is a sharp weapon in cider, because it uses a few varieties of brewed apples, which can be dipped into light red, and its body color is fresh and refined in light pink, and its output is scarce.
High-value pink cider
However, there are also "unscrupulous" merchants who decolorize normal cider and then add raspberry syrup for blending. Unfortunately, I have tasted it once, and the sweetness of Demi-sec is really impeccable as raspberry-flavored cider.
Pink cider with raspberry flavor.
According to the brewing process of cider:
? Apple cider brewed by traditional technology: apple sorting, chopping and coring, juicing, low-temperature fermentation of clear juice, clarification and filtration, blending and blending, and artificial carbon dioxide filling before bottling (to put it bluntly, carbon dioxide is added in the fermentation process of liquor).
In fact, the ceramic wide-mouthed cup is a traditional container for tasting cider in France.
It should be noted that, unlike grapes, apples are not easy to squeeze and have a high juice yield. They need to be chopped at lightning speed in a relatively closed environment before they can be squeezed. However, no matter how careful we are, apples are recognized to be particularly prone to oxidation, so cider always seems to be darker than white wine (also referring to the color difference between crystal grapes and apple juice). Therefore, it is speculated that this step of artificially charging carbon dioxide is not only for the taste demand, but also to better prevent cider from being oxidized, so cider on the market is frothy, and only a few are static (please make up for the gorgeous smoke after apple juice is oxidized and browned).
Every harvest season, the scene of squeezing is in full swing.
? High-end goods in cider: traditional cider
For the world's first melodramatic Frenchman, cider artificially filled with carbon dioxide is obviously not tall enough. With the wind of craft beer blowing all over the country, using the secondary fermentation technology of champagne for reference, cider can also be fermented gracefully in bottles to produce bubbles. However, people are watching that the price of cider produced by this method has doubled or tripled if it is properly aged for a period of time.
Champagne fermented cider
Cider is naturally not a French patent. Britain, South Africa, the United States, Australia and other places produce a large number of cider, among which Savanna dry cider from South Africa is a famous brand. After triple filtration and twice cooling, this cider was finally extracted, retaining the most essential part of apple juice, and 100% of the natural fruit aroma of apple was sealed. Do you want to guess what kind of brewed apple is used?
Dry cider on savanna
In addition to the cider mentioned above, in Calvados Province, people distill apple juice to produce the world-famous calvados. Don't go unless you drink hard liquor. Try adding a little calvados Calva to your vanilla ice cream, sprinkle some chopped almonds and chocolate sauce, and the taste will be enriched immediately. Old drivers can listen to Wine and Coffee in this cold winter and mix a small piece of Nutella muffin with a cup of Normandy coffee at home.
Equipment for brewing Irish coffee
Just as there are cognac and Charente in Pi Nuo in the wine industry, there are Carlo calvados brandy and Pomo liqueur in cider. The latter is fortified liqueur obtained by adding corresponding brandy to unfermented/fermented fruit juice. Pommeau's alcohol content is about 18 degrees, with rich fruit aroma and sweet taste, just like the female man in cider. She has a small glass before dinner and a small glass with dessert after dinner, and she has a good appetite. It's really a good wine for home travel.
cider brandy
Finally, I would like to introduce the iceberg beauty of the cider family-iced cider (French: Cidre du glace). Its raw materials need to be frozen at MINUS 4 degrees, so the sugar content of "iced apples" is higher than that of ordinary apples, so natural sweet wine can be brewed without adding sugar or concentrated juice. How's it going? Does it sound cold? Don't worry, it tastes cold (because ice wine usually has a high sugar content and is suitable for drinking at a low temperature, about 6 to 8 degrees).
In the cold winter, workers who pick apples by hand