Why cider completely disappeared from USA

[podz]

In the early 1800s, it seems, people in USA were all drunk on cider. Families going through a barrel a week... And then it just disappeared - or did it?

Seems that the WASP were responsible for it's disappearance as a means to keep German and other immigrants from snaking their way into positions of influence.

Really interesting reading:

http://mason.gmu.edu/~drwillia/cider.html

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, it's interesting to note that hard cider was a big part of even colonial America, where they grew apples that were more tart, thus lending themselves more to hard cider making. Every farmer had an orchard for the purpose of cider making. Even the taverns had cider available along with food, usually wild game, to go with. It is said that it was these tart apple varieties that Johnny Appleseed planted in his travels. Varieties that would be considered heirloom today.

 

[Bosh]

http://mason.gmu.edu/~drwillia/cider.html

reviously, beer made in the United States had
been made with top fermenting yeasts, yeasts that floated on the
top of the wort exposed to air during the brewing process. This
exposed the beer to numerous bacteria and unwanted yeasts which
more often than not produced off flavors or outright spoilage.
Prior to the 1840s, American beer was of fairly poor quality.
With the introduction of bottom fermenting yeasts, these spoilage
problems were overcome.

The
only ingredients required were barley, which was light and easily
shipped without spoilage, and water, which was plentiful.

Hmmmm...

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Yeah, it's interesting to note that hard cider was a big part of even colonial America, where they grew apples that were more tart, thus lending themselves more to hard cider making. Every farmer had an orchard for the purpose of cider making. Even the taverns had cider available along with food, usually wild game, to go with. It is said that it was these tart apple varieties that Johnny Appleseed planted in his travels. Varieties that would be considered heirloom today.

I live in the area where Johnny Appleseed grew up. The main reason why I've heard around here that cider disappeared was due to prohibition. A lot of "old" orchards were chopped down by pressure from temperance groups and other crops replaced their spot. You can still find some abandoned orchards growing wild in the woods tho. Those orchards were heirloom. A lot planted in the 1600's. Most farmers weren't going to chance putting in orchards that might have to be chopped down again if prohibition came back. Barley (beer) and sugar cane(rum) can come back in a year. Not an orchard.

It's important to note that JA didn't propagate heirloom varieties. You need to graft in order to not produce a mutant variety. He used seeds. Just easier on the frontier than grafting. Plus there were some good varieties that were produced. I think with prohibition and the arrival of refrigeration shipping heirlooms lost their lure. Watch East of Eden ;-)

I think there's another interesting spin to this story. Imagine when people went from having a mild buzz on all day because it was the safest way to get water to consuming a boiled beverage that was a stimulant (coffee). There waaaaas a jump in the creative and scientific realm.

 

[podz]

Imagine when people went from having a mild buzz on all day because it was the safest way to get water

A barrel of cider barely lasting a family a week sounds like a bit more than a mild buzz on all day!

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I go through two. What are you insinuating?

I'd take that with working out in the fields all day compared to sitting in the outhouse for a week or even worse the grave. Plus they were busy back then. What? People had like at least 14 children back then.

I think it's interesting when you visit museums of that time and notice the size of their glasses. A barrel does seem inaccurate. Most of the glasses serving size is what I'd consider a shot these days. If they were drinking that much the glasses would be bigger.

 

[bernardsmith]

In the early 1800s, it seems, people in USA were all drunk on cider. Families going through a barrel a week... And then it just disappeared - or did it?

Seems that the WASP were responsible for it's disappearance as a means to keep German and other immigrants from snaking their way into positions of influence.

Really interesting reading:

http://mason.gmu.edu/~drwillia/cider.html

I wonder whether there was some kind of "conspiracy" involved in the demise of cider and the advent of beer. By the middle of the 19th Century several millions of immigrants from western Europe had come to the USA. Many of these had settled in towns and they brought with them their brewing and their preference for beer. Those who settled in rural areas may not have been that interested in cultivating apples but in growing barley and while cider was very likely to have been viewed as something produced at home and intended for home consumption, beer may have been viewed as something more to be manufactured and sold (while in the earlier times and in other cultures, ale wives may have been the brewers, I am not so certain that in the German and Czeck and Belgian cultures brewing was not a male gender coded activity)

 

[Stillraining]

Its Budweiser fault...its always Budweiser fault

 

[Zuljin]

Someone just wanted to disparage and say WASP.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I can go down to the liquor store and buy hard cider right now if I wanted too.ipe:

 

[Zuljin]

I can go down to the liquor store and buy hard cider right now if I wanted too.ipe:

Big deal. I can stop going down to the liquor store and buying hard cider, if I wanted to.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Big deal. I can stop going down to the liquor store and buying hard cider, if I wanted to.

big whoop! I can brush my tooth with an avocado.

 

[podz]

I can go down to the liquor store and buy hard cider right now if I wanted too.ipe:

And that has been the case for how many years now?

 

[Billy-Klubb]

And that has been the case for how many years now?

that's quite irrelevant to me.ipe:

 

[Hamaki]

Not the first time I've been disappointed by the writings of a PhD and probably not the last.