The second half of the CUESA farm tour last month was Hidden Star Orchards (also known as Smit Ranch and Smith Ranch), a farm known best for apples, cherries, and grapes.
Near the end of the tour, they handed out bottles of apple juice or cider—I couldn’t tell because the label had detached from my bottle (it had been immersed in ice water). Then I remembered some advice from Ned Flanders: “If it’s clear and yella, you’ve got juice there, fella; if it’s tangy and brown, you’re in cider town!”
I took a look at the bottle. Brown. I took a taste. Tangy. I was in cidertown!
Watch Ned Flanders explain it himself (including the important late season and Canadian exceptions):
I’ll have much more about the tour in a little while over at Ethicurean.
(The photo at the top is the hammer mill portion of the cider-making machine, the part that mashes the whole apples into bits.)
Random link from the archive: Autumn Colors in the Santa Monica Mountains
Technorati tags: Farms : Food
5 comments
But, isn’t REAL CIDER alcoholic? I missed that mention, above.
I’m not a fan of cider, but wish I were.
I totally forgot about the alcoholic version of cider when I wrote the post. A cold glass of hard cider would have been great during the farm tour…
I also wasn’t trying to do a full explanation of cider vs. juice, I was just pointing out a bit of apple-related comedy. I’ve seen almost every Simpsons episode, but can’t recall if Ned Flanders drinks alcohol or not. If not, he might not be thinking about hard cider either. In the episode with the cult that Homer, Lisa, and Bart are swept into, Ned has a beer tap in his rec room. But did he drink the beer? Or was it only for guests?
whether or not cider is alcoholic depends on where you are. In the USA, “cider” generally refers to non-alcoholic pressings, less filtered than juice, while “hard cider” is the alcoholic version. In older references (Revolutionary- Civil War eras) cider was alcoholic. I don’t know when the change happened. (I’d guess it had something to do with Prohibition, but am not really sure.)In Britain, cider is alcoholic.
I was searching for the difference between Cider and Juice as I found both at Cub foods and they look the same and cost the same. I drink a cupfull of it shortly before going to bed, and if I awaken during the night drink another glass. Reason? I’ve had problems with Gurd, (I’m 82) and if I ate an apple as a snack before going to bed and slept well. So take it regularly for better sleep and no heartburn to keep me awake. love2use