I’m sure most of us can recall learning about Johnny Appleseed as children. You know, the sweet man who wanted to feed the world so he waltzed around barefoot, planting apple seeds all across America. The tales are not too far from the truth, but it’s missing a vital piece of information: Johnny Appleseed didn’t want to feed people, he wanted to get em’ drunk!
“Johnny Appleseed,” actually John Chapman, was a pioneer gardener who planted many orchards throughout the early 1800’s. He really did travel around with a pocket full of seeds, but as we know now, the apples he was spreading weren’t actually intended to eat. Many people were versed in grafting apple trees to produce apples that were more fit to eat, but most decided that their time was better spent planting from seed and focusing on apples to drink! This was partially due to the low soil quality in America at the time, which made grafted trees quite hard to grow. Apples grown from seed took better to the soil, but often produced apples they called “spitters”. These were sour apples that weren’t as enjoyable to eat, but were perfect for making cider, which was the drink of choice at the time.
Early on in America, people were very excited to bring apples and cider from England. When they arrived, however, they struggled to see the bounty they initially expected. After some contemplation, they realized that they were missing a crucial element: bees! They proceeded to bring over swarms of bees and their apple orchards began to thrive.
The glory of the new apple orchards didn’t last long though, as prohibition came in with its big ax. The FBI took to cutting down any apple trees that produced sour apples, as those were the primary apples used to make cider. Imagine how many apples they ate during a day of tree cutting!
After prohibition came and went, America held firm to their commitment to apples. Orchards began to regrow and cider production, though far less popular, resumed. Thanks to Johnny Appleseed and his seed planting years, America actually enjoyed more diversity in apples than anywhere else in the world!
Now, we know they were making cider, but how? Hard cider was discovered accidently and then replicated, as is common with most alcoholic beverages. We see history showing evidence of hard cider dating back to 1300 B.C. By the 15th century, hard cider was integral to life and was often used as a form of currency.
The initial production of cider has sustainable beginnings. It was never the money maker, like the growing of the fruit, but instead a way of using the leftover apples that weren’t good enough to sell. The cider was often given to farm hands to supplement their wages.
Cider pressing has evolved greatly over the years. Initially, the hard apples were crushed with a mortar and pestle. Around 1800, the average New Englander was drinking 10.2 ounces of cider per day. This was only made possible by advancing the cider pressing methods. Luckily a circular horse-powered mill was created. A horse would pull a millstone around in a circle crushing apples, while the cider tender would pour water into the stone basin. After a sufficient amount of apples were crushed, they would press the pulp and produce cider.
The leftover pulp was scraped out and fed to livestock. Farmers quickly learned that timing was very important. If they waited too long, the pulp would ferment and they’d have drunk pigs to deal with!
Once the liquid cider was pressed from the pulp, it would be transferred into wooden casks to ferment. The natural yeasts of the fruit, mixed with the sugar, created a quick and easy fermentation process.
As time passed, stone cider presses were replaced with wooden ones and the horse power was replaced with human power. Though the process has modernized, the mechanics have stayed the same. Still the same churn, crunch, smash, and savor that has been at the core of cider since the beginning of time!
Did you know that the Bitterroot Valley, just south of Missoula, has a long history of apple and cider production? The boom of Montana’s apples began in Stevensville, where many of our apples are still grown today. Our most famous apple in Montana is the McIntosh commemorated by celebrating McIntosh Apple Day annually on October 5th!
The cider press shown above is actually a 1872 Whitman’s Americus Cider Mill. It was donated to MUD by community members in 2018, with the hopes of continuing on the tradition of cider pressing!
At MUD, we are passionate about cider pressing! We have many cider presses that you can use to press your own crisp, delicious cider. Now, it is very common to press cider and drink it before it ferments, so everyone can enjoy! Not only is cider delicious, it is also a great way to be bear aware in Missoula. Gleaning apples in the fall is very important to maintain a safe and healthy wildlife/human interface, so why not make some cider while you’re at it!
Though we no longer use a horse to press our cider, the cider pressing tradition lives on each year as we come together to celebrate the harvest and crush up some apple goodness!
Check out MUD’s Cider Press Lending Program! If you need a little taster before you get going, head over to Western Cider and try their McIntosh Cider!
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