Not really cider, but really good

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Just bottled up some prickly pear cider. I was reading about indigenous beverages and found a small mention about using prickly pears and just boiling them and fermenting whatever sugars could be derived. So I boiled the hell out of a bunch and ended up with a gallon of pure juice, bumped the gravity up a little bit with some raw catclaw honey, and let her rip on some cote de blanc (not super authentic, but hey). After three days fermentation finished and I primed and bottled them. I'm currently drinking the leftovers and it's very unlike anything I've ever tasted. Lots of melon rind (in a good way), somewhat fresh like cucumber, with a nice acidity. Can't wait for it to carb up in bottles! Delicious even still.

 

[bernardsmith]

If wine can be made from any fruit but the idea being that it tends to have a greater ABV than about 5 or 6 % and if cider is typically made from fruits which result in an ABV of about 5 or 6 %, is there a word for fruit wines without any added sugars that approximate indigenous alcoholic fruit based drinks? Perhaps the word 'cider' needs to be "pressed" into that role...

 

[Zymomancer]

I've heard of other people on the forum and the net in general hesitantly referring to any 5-8% ABV fruit-derived brew as a "cider"... seems reasonable to me, considering we would call the same thing "wine" despite not having any grapes.

Apparently there's something called "plum jerkum" which is made strictly from just pressed plums (http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2013/01/plum-jerkum-pressing-plums-worcestershire-style/). This sounds a bit like cider due to the lack of added sugar. "Jerkum" is probably too obscure of a term to be used for other drinks, though.

In this case, you could be clever and call it a "prickly perry".

 

[Paps]

Dry hop it with katy-dids and then you can call it
Katy-Perry

[emoji217]

 

[slym2none]

There's already a thread for puns...

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

The bottles are still carbing, but I'm just using the nomenclature for Tuna cider from a book originally printed in 1938, so, kindof a moot point, but it's not mead, it's not apple cider, but it's a somewhat weak fermented beverage of historical value to taste. Didn't let the ferment go native, but I plan to with the next harvest, at least a small amount for consumption on a camping trip, probably processed and fermented in the camp site for kicks.