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The Apple is a fruit with a great history and tradition in our culture. It is also a fruit that is truly fascinating in many ways. Hard Cider too has an equally rich history. Below are a few facts which we hope you will find interesting.
Apple Facts
Apples were first cultivated in Tien Shan region of modern-day Kazakhstan in 6500 B.C.
Remains of apples were found among excavations at Jericho in the Jordan Valley and also date back to 6500 B.C.
There are more than 7500 varieties of apples grown in the world. About 2500 varieties are grown in the United States but only 100 are grown commercially in the U.S. Of these, 10 varieties represent over 90% of the crop.
Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. There are apples that have an aftertaste of pears, pineapple, grapes, cloves, coconut and strawberries.
Planting an apple seed from a particular apple will not produce a tree with the identical fruit. In order to duplicate an apple variety – grafting is required.
A graft is a technique in which part of a stem which includes leaf buds of the donor tree are inserted into the recipient tree. This tree acts as the host and provides nutrients to the stem section of the graft.
When deciding to plant an apple tree, you should carefully choose the rootstock of the tree to see if it meets the needs of your growing area.
There are many different types of rootstock available in the marketplace, ranging from full-sized types all the way down to dwarf varieties.
In general, the larger the tree, the more winter hardy it will be and the more resistant to disease the tree will be, but the longer it will take to produce fruit. As the size of the tree diminishes, the quicker it is to bear fruit. A smaller variety rootstock needs special attention in terms of soil, anchoring and disease susceptibility.
Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. For optimal storage, apples should be kept at 35-40 degrees Fahrenheit with relative humidity of 80-90%.
Apples absorb oxygen and give off carbon dioxide and this reaction converts starch to sugar in the apple. In sealed rooms, this respiratory process reduced the oxygen level and thus slows the ripening process.
Fresh apples float on water since 25% of their volume is air. Pears do not float.
Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free.
Apples are high in Fiber and low in calories (one medium sized apple contains approximately 80 calories).
Apples have five seed pockets or carpels. Each pocket contains seeds. The number of seeds per carpel is determined by the vigor and health of the plant. Different varieties of apples will have different number of seeds.
Americans eat approximately 19 pounds of fresh apples annually per person, compared to about 46 pounds consumed annually by residents of European countries.
The apple is the official state fruit of Washington, New York, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia in that order.
Hard Cider Facts
The fermentation of apple juice to produce an alcohol beverage dates back at least 2000 years and is recorded as a common drink at the time of the Roman invasion of England in 55 B.C.
In England, during the 13th – 19th centuries, hard cider was valued as a safer drink than water and was used as a means to paying farm workers. The reputation of farmer’s cider helped them attract better farm workers.
The Truck Act of 1887 prohibited the payment of wages in the form of cider.
Isaac Newton was known to produce hard cider on his family estate.
Historians report that in 1767, 1.14 barrels of cider per capita were consumed annually in Massachusetts. During that period, a majority of the apples grown were used for the production of hard cider. In 2005, over 60% of U.S. apple crop were eaten as fresh fruit.
Cider apples are often grouped into four categories 1) bitter-sweet, 2) bitter-sharp, 3) sweet, and 4) sharp.
Apples contains numerous types of yeast on the skin and internally. This is why, if you leave unpasteurized cider alone, it will naturally ferment.
There are as many as 50,000 yeast cells per gram of fruit inside the apple itself. These are often weak fermenting yeasts.
While certain yeasts can be associated with specific geographic regions, they are not associated with particular apple varieties.
Fermentation is an active process. Yeasts require nutrients for the process to be successful.
Apples are acidic and it is important that only certain types of materials are allowed to come in contact with apple cider (most metals should be avoided with the notable exception of food-grade stainless steel).
An apple juice with a pH of more than 3.8 is unsuitable for making quality alcoholic cider.
Specific gravity of 1045 will yield a potential alcohol of 6%.
Tannins not only give cider depth in flavor, but also preserve cider from oxidation.
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We are constantly on the look out for evidence of the historical popularity of cider in the United States. Hard Cider was the most popular alcoholic beverage in the U.S. until the late 19 th century. We just came across a great book, first published in 1900, that discusses taverns and tavern life in early America. The book has a section on the popularity of various drinks and drink concoctions including cider. Below are some excerpts. The book is fascinating and highly recommended. Stage-Coach and Tavern Days By Alice Morse Earle Published 1900 MacMillan Company
(some of the references to cider in the book - pages 103 - 130) It was said of John Adams “to the end of his life, always began the day with a tankard of hard cider for breakfast.” “All the colonists drank cider, old and young, and in all places, - funerals, weddings, ordainings, vestry-meetings, church-raisings, etc. “ It (cider) was supplied to students at Harvard and Yale at dinner and bever, being passed in two quart tankards from hand to hand down the common table” “Old men began the day with a quart or more of hard cider before breakfast. Delicate women drank hard cider. All laborers in the field drank it in great draughts that were often liberally fortified with drams of New England rum.” “The apple crop was so wholly devoted to the manufacture of cider that in the days of temperance reform at the beginning of this century, Washington zealots cut down great orchards of full-bearing trees, not conceiving any adequate use of the fruit for any purpose save cider-making” “Cider was tediously made at first by pounding the apples in wooden mortars; the pomace was afterward pressed in baskets. Then rude mills with spring board and heavy maul crushed the apples in the hollowed log. Then presses for cider-making began to be set up about the year 1650.” “Connecticut cider soon became specifically famous. Roger Williams in 1660 says John Wintrop’s loving letter to him was a grateful as a ‘cup of your Connecticut cider.” “In 1721 one Massachusetts village of forty families made three thousand barrels of cider, and Judge Joseph Wilder of Lancaster, Massachusetts, made six hundred and sixteen barrels in the year 1728”. “By the closing years of the seventeenth century nearly all Virginia plantations had an apple orchard….So great was the demand for cider in the South that apple orchards were deemed the most desirable leasing property.” “A New Hampshire settler carried on his back for twenty miles to his home a load of young apple trees. They thrived and grew apace, and his first crop was eight bushels. From these, he proudly recounted, he made one barrel of cider…” “At a very early date apple trees were set out in New York, and cultivated with much care and much success. Nowhere else in America, says Dankers, the Labadist traveler, has he seen such fine apples…..Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, spoke of the splendid apple orchards which he saw throughout New York in 1749, and told of the use of the horse press in the Hudson Valley for making cider.” *(Note: As the founder of Original Sin, I take specific delight in seeing Hudson Valley, New York mentioned in the book. My family owned a dairy farm in the Hudson valley and apple orchards surrounded us. I have fond memories of picking apples from these storied Hudson valley orchards. Today, New York State is the 2nd largest U.S. apple producing State, behind Washington State. Cornell University’s – Geneva, New York research center is an international hub for apple and apple orchard research . Apple breeding at the experimental station in Geneva dates back to 1898.)
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Along came a cider
Original Sin is the apple of my eye
COURTESY OF ORIGINAL SIN
TASTING NOTES
Original Sin Premium Hard Cider
Strong yellow with touches of citron. Fizzy with and lacing foam. Smells crisp. The apple doesn’t scream in a synthetic or aggressive way. Very refreshing without being sweet. It’s the elegance of a dry chenin blanc or brut Prosecco at beer’s reduced potency (6 percent ABV). Serve it out of champagne flutes at brunch or by the pint with roast pork and apples. By Jason Tesauro and Phineas Mollod Whether or not you learned in Vacation Bible School to turn Popsicle sticks and yarn into a crucifix, by now, you’ve all heard the tale of an apple, Eden, Adam and Eve in the face of a monumental choice: fruit or exile. When faced with a similar ultimatum, Original Sin’s Gidon Coll chose fruit and decided that when life hands you apples ... you open a hard cider mill. Turns out that Original Sin Hard Cider is the forbidden fruit that turned these authors into wiser creatures, for now we have knowledge of appley goodness beyond Mott’s, Halloween bobbing and Charlize Theron’s acclaimed performance in “Cider House Rules.” Apple trees grew along the Nile in ancient Egypt, and France and England were tippling with les pommes long before the Romans came along. Yet after a strong run in Colonial America, cider got the boot—but not enough bootleggers—when Prohibition hit. But thank goodness, it’s back. The Sunday Paper caught up with Original Sin founder Gidon Coll to talk about how one a day keeps the doctor away: Q So crisp and dry. Is this solely tied to the apple's natural sugar levels? And is this style reminiscent of classic European offerings? A The quality of apples is critical. We use the best available domestic eating apples with the right brix and acid levels. Apples vary in quality from season to season, and as such, the product varies slightly in color and acid. We don’t pasteurize, and we don’t add artificial colors or flavors. The natural flavor speaks for itself. And the dry nature of Original Sin makes it similar to English and French ciders. Anyone that’s ever mis-poured a beer into a pint glass knows of the foamy power of carbonation. Is there a natural carbonation process like beer or shampagne, or is it added like soda? Part of the carbonation is natural. We use champagne yeast during the fermentation process. We also add a low level of carbonation. In the States, there are strict regulations regarding levels of carbonation allowed in ciders imported or produced into this country. In your international travels, you might find ciders with much higher levels of carbonation. We found many white wine qualities in O.S. What’s hard cider’s place on the table? Any ideal food pairings? And what about mixing cider and beer? A Poor man’s Black Velvet, which is stout and cider, and Snake Bite, a combination of ager and cider, are great mixes. There’s much more awareness of these drinks in the U.K. than here, but their domestic popularity seems to be growing. Also, because Original Sin is such a natural product, many bars have come up with their own house mixes, such as adding a splash of fresh cranberry to a pint of Sin. With food pairing, O.S. goes great with fish, as well as with more spicy, flavorful foods like BBQ. Cider seems misunderstood as a sweet girlie drink, yet, finely crafted cider is a refreshing, bewitching alterative. What is the message you’re trying to deliver with your racy posters and devil-may-care design at origsin.com? Developing the poster campaign with the artist R.Black has truly been fun. R.Black is a gig poster artist, who just came out with an art book called “Futura” [Dark Horse, 2008]. We strive to come up with sexy ads that people would find creative and artist if not slightly alarming. The goal was to make posters that would appeal equally to men and women, and the newer posters all feature real people from the art, bar and nightlife scene. We get a number of e-mails a week from people wishing to be on future posters; sadly, the artist is pretty backed up. SP
Phineas and Jason are the authors of “The Modern Gentleman” and “The Modern Lover.” E-mail them atbooze@sundaypaper.com
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One nice perk of the Sin Biz is having the opportunity to travel the U.S. and promote O.S. During these trips, I often find myself off the-beaten path, in-up-and-coming neighborhoods of cities where nightlife is beginning to take hold. I’ve met many inspiring bar and restaurant owners along the way who have sunk great thought and passion into their ventures. Recently we launched in Las Vegas and I got a chance to see the city and surrounding region. There is a wealth of exceptional restaurants on the Las Vegas strip, yet as you make repeat trips to Vegas you might want to mix it up with excursions off the strip. Here’s a few interesting places I checked out. (note: not all these establishments stock O.S.) The Freakin Frog This fun beer bar is a popular neighborhood/UNLV hangout. The manager really knows her beer and the owner is a UNLV professor who teaches a wine and spirits course. He clearly has influenced Vegas’s food and beverage industry— The Strip is full of professionals who have taken his class. Whiskey Attic On the second floor of The Freakin Frog, this cool bar has 300 different types of whiskeys. Btw, The Freakin Frog has 900 different beers. Next door they recently opened a BBQ joint called Adam’s Ribs. Double Down This is the ultimate dive bar filled with friendly and colorful people, no matter what time of day. The owners recently opened a great tiki bar near the UNLV campus called Frankie’s Tiki Lounge. Several years ago they also opened a D. Down in New York City’s East Village as well. Steiner’s This great neighborhood bar (several locations in and around Vegaa) has excellent bar food and a top beer selection. Also… Great food off the strip includes Rosemary (check their website for specials including ladies night), Lotus of Siam (great Thai food) and BBQ Shak owned by a former pro football player (they don’t have an alc license btw – it’s small but great food). In downtown Vegas I recommend visits to Beauty Bar and The Griffin. Both are run by passionate owners/managers. Note: We ran a Pin-Up competition at Beauty Bar. R. Black was the judge. It was an amazing night and drew a great and diverse crowd. So, if you’re under the impression that Vegas doesn’t have a great art scene… stop by Beauty Bar. A fun night to check out Beauty Bar is Tuesday night for Underground a Go-Go. Many great bands play at the Beauty Bar. Las Vegas Weekly <http://www.lasvegasweekly.com> is a great resource for listings.
Soon to open next door to Beauty Bar is a Vegas version of NYC’s Don’t Tell Mama’s Piano Bar. The city of Vegas has plans to further develop this end of Fremont Street in old Vegas.
Another lively/fun bar to check out in Old Vegas is Hogs and Heifers - also run by an ex-New Yorker.
On the other side of Vegas is Canvas Café which features bands and work from local artists --excellent food btw. For beer and cider lovers, two places on the strip include NY NY’s Pour 24 and Burger Bar in Mandalay Bar. Both really do their beer list up right. Also, as a NYCer, I wasn’t aware of the Yard House chain, but there is a Vegas location in the new town center near the airport, which has become a Vegas local hangout. If you happen to venture to any of these places, please let me know what you think. Cheers, Gidon – Founder/President
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