Apple Cider Day

I love cooking during Christmas, all smells like the hot apple cider, the hot spiced wine.

Amy Smart

Apple cider is one of the greatest joys of the Autumn season, a richly seasoned beverage that warms the stomach and soul in equal measure. In one glass you get the distilled essence of an entire summer of growth while the apple sat soaking in the nourishing rays of the sun and danced gently in storms and wind. After harvest, it is pressed and delivered to mouths that have waited the entirety of the year for this one moment, a warm glass of spiced apple cider. Apple Cider Day commemorates this journey and honors the history of this fine sweet beverage.

History of Apple Cider Day

Apple Cider Day finds its roots in the history of that self-same beverage, a drink which has been enjoyed in various forms for as long as apples and presses have coexisted. Cider is also known as the fermented version of apple juice in the rest of the world and is prepared in a manner much like beer. In the Americas, however, it is instead referring to an unfermented drink that is merely the result of putting the apples through a press. The results are neither filtered nor sweetened in the manner of apple juice, and instead results in a drink that has excellent body and a natural flavor to please the palate.

While you can purchase this beverage from any grocery store you happen to come across, it is our opinion that the finest apple cider comes from the private farms and local mills that produce it from apples grown in their orchards. Rather than the standardized apples, you’ll find in industrially produced cider; these farms use apples that have been through the rigors of a natural growing period and are often of a strain of apple found only in their orchards.

This means that the true Apple Cider connoisseur gets to indulge in a local flavor that stands out from the industrially produced variety.

How to celebrate Apple Cider Day

The best way to celebrate Apple Cider Day is to head out to a local mill or farm and find a locally produced offering of apple cider. Throughout the rest of the year you can indulge your tastes in the industrially produced brand, but at this very special time, you do your local farmers an injustice by indulging in the heartless, lackluster flavors of ciders produced on a large scale. Don’t settle for less than the best they have to offer, get fresh apple cider for Apple Cider Day.