Most cider is made from fermented apple juice. Natural cider has nothing added and relies, for fermentation, upon the wild yeast present in the apples. For mass-produced ciders, a yeast culture is added in order to achieve consistency. Although much of today’s cider is produced from apple concentrate, many traditional cider-makers use only cider apples, cultivated specifically for the purpose.

When the Romans arrived in England in 55 B.C., they were reported to have found the local Kentish villagers drinking a delicious cider-like beverage made from apples. It has been recorded that the Romans and in particular their leader, Julius Caesar, embraced the pleasant pursuit with enthusiasm! How long the locals had been making this apple drink, prior to the arrival of the Romans, is anybody’s guess.

In America, cider was an everyday drink up until the middle of the 19th century. Anytime was considered a good time for drinking in the New England Colonies, and upon rising in the morning, the downing of a mug of cider was considered customary. Most of the early apple crops were made into cider since the apples had not yet been perfected into the sweet, juicy, eating apples of today. By the 1670s, cider was the most abundant and least expensive drink in New England. It quickly took the place of water, which was considered unsafe. During the colonial period, hard cider was the most popular beverage in America and often the measure of a town’s wealth was measured by how many barrels of cider were stored for the winter.