Cider: Making, Using, & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider

I've been making cider for over thirty years and my family for generations. I've learned a few things about cider I never thought about before and I'm a stickler for details. Novices should consider this as their number one source for information unless they can get in touch with me. ;-)

The book on cider making by Annie Prolux has been extremely helpful and a lot of fun to read. The author starts with a step-by-step outline of the process, so you can 'jump right in', but then proceeds with lots of additional information, depending on how sophisticated you want to be about the process. She supplements with pictures and tables where necessary. As a homebrewer, I really appreciated her discussion of the chemistry of the fermentation process and the different add-ins. After reading the book, I feel very comfortable approaching the Fall apple season!

This is an excellent book. Starting to explain which equipment you need and how to do it. Shows the way steb by steb to make fresh and delicious sweet and hard ciders, including blended and sparkling ciders.Gives you the necessary information to choose the appropriate apple varieties. Plan and Plant your very own home orchard for the freshest batch of cider ever and finally shows you how to build your own cider press. This book explain with detail everything you need to make delicious cider I suggest everyone to have this book.

This book has most of the information you would need. A detailed plan to build your own press is included, but so are pointers on obtaining the services of a local orchard's press. Advice is given in selecting apples to grow, rootstock considerations, planting and soil fertility, while also suggesting that others might have some worthwhile advice, like local growers or nurserymen. (I personally suggest, for northern growers, St. Lawrence Nurseries.) Descriptions for classic American apples used in cider are geared toward the cider-maker or grower, and since many of these cannot be grown succesfully in Canada, there are apple recommendations for cider-making in Canadian Provinces. Mention is made of European cider apples, but since these are hard to come by (another suggestion for a source of trees is Cummins Nursery - they also have a smart range of dwarfing rootstock options,) why not grow some of your own cider varieties from seed? A good description and illustration of grafting is given, which can be a good way to replicate trees that you've found to be useful in cider-making. I find in this book, possibly because it is a 3rd edition and written by a pair of authors, that different perspectives are explored: As a cider-maker, do you blend and press your apples all together, or, can you achieve greater control by making individual presses and blending them at bottling? All options are explored. Instructions for making apple cider vinegar are here. There are also, for historical purposes, descriptions of how apple brandy and applejack are made, as well as some great-sounding recipes utilizing cider. Results of a tasting-panel sampling of several commercial hard ciders is shown, along with an introduction to having your own sampling, or taking individual tasting notes of ciders. A few sections could use a mild editing by a horticulturist; an example being about pruning: they say to make pruning cuts flush to the trunk, but actually it is best to leave that small projection where the branch is flaring out (the collar), else it doesn't heal quickly. But it would also be a mistake to leave too much stub. This is why I said at the beginning, that this book provides most of the information you need. Other sources might be University Extension bulletins or a good book on growing apples organically, which makes sense for cider-making, not requiring picture-perfect apples. Of course, there are probably dozens more known apple varieties that would make fine cider that the size of this book just didn't allow to be described. Another book I've read mentions that 'King David' makes a great hard cider all by itself. Sixty varieties are described in "The Best Apples To Buy And Grow", which I've also reviewed, and might be a good companion book to Cider.

Now in a third and expanded and revised edition, Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider by collaborative authors Annie Proulx and Lew Nichols (who is the owner and operator of the Vershire Cidery in Vershire, Vermont) is a straightforward, "user friendly", step-by-step handbook to building an apple press, creating delicious apple ciders (including sweet, hard, blended, and sparkling ciders), using cider as an ingredient to enhance kitchen cooking, planting a personal home orchid, and more. Cider is an enthusiastically recommended history of cider, as well as being a superb and all-inclusive resource, an accessibly written how-to manual, and a specialized cookbook for anyone who enjoys and appreciates the delicious taste of a homemade cider.