Feature: Cider, perry and 'Calvados'

LEOMINSTER, England, May 23 (UPI) -- It is debatable whether it was the Romans or the Normans who brought the apple to this part of Western England on the borders of Wales. But our town, Leominster, in Herefordshire, England, is in the heart of apple country, and cider has long been one of the county's traditional products.

Hereford Cathedral has a copy of the Cider Bible, a medieval translation of the Bible into English, in which the passage describing John the Baptist as a man who took no strong drink is translated as he took no sidr. (Note the spelling. The pronunciation is thought to be the same as cider.)

The Welsh word for cider to this day is seidr. I suspect that the Romans brought the apple with them, because it is unlikely that the Normans would have had such a quick effect on the Welsh language.

For the benefit of American readers, cider, in these parts, is the fermented juice of the apple. We did have an American visitor, following the Herefordshire Cider Route, who was surprised to find that our cider was alcoholic. What we in Britain call cider is what Americans call hard cider. Yet again we are divided by our common language. For the purposes of this piece, I am talking about hard cider.

Perry (pear-cider) is made from fermented pear juice. In Britain, it is mainly produced in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. It is also made in Normandy from similar pears, where it is called poiré. Perry pears are nearer wild pears than cultivated pears; they are usually small, hard, and tannic, and not much use for anything except making perry.

Cider and perry can be made anywhere apples and pears can be grown. In Europe, the traditional areas are Northern Spain, Normandy and Brittany in France. Frankfurt is Germany's only cider town.

In the west of England, tannic apples are used to make cider; bittersweet apples are high in sugar, while bitter-sharp apples are high in acid. Hundreds of varieties are known, and every cider-maker has his, or her, own blend. Typically the ratio is 2 bitter-sharp for 1 bittersweet.

In the East of England, the tannic apples have been replaced by eating and cooking apples. (An English cooking apple is high in acidity, which causes the flesh of the apple to turn to purée as it cooks. That is why British apple pies are quite different from those made anywhere else.) Again about 2 sharps are used to 1 sweet.

The U.K. market is dominated by large companies who make a very successful commercial product all year from concentrate. Small-scale cider producers make a craft product from juice at harvest time.

There are various competitions for craft ciders in the United Kingdom, all of which take place in May, as the previous year's juice becomes this year's cider and perry. I am pleased to report that this year, Herefordshire cider makers did very well -- as of course they usually do.

At the Hereford Cider Museum Competition, Denis Gwatkin was winner of the dry cider, the perry, and overall champion. This competition is open to overseas cider makers, and the best single variety cider was from Normandy, Duché de Longueville, made from an apple variety called Gros Oeillet.

Denis Gwatkin also won the National Championship organized by the Campaign for Real Ale, which also take an interest in cider and perry. Interestingly, it was a different cider that won this prize. Different shows have different judges, so their opinions differ about which cider is the best. Judges agreed that, this year, Gwatkin's were the best.

Denis works on the family farm in the Golden Valley, close to the Herefordshire/Welsh border. He uses pure juice and the yeasts present on the fruit in the orchard. His products are still, like a table wine. This is the traditional way to make English cider. The flavor of the fruit dominates all his products.

Cider can be made to sparkle in various ways. The cheapest is to get the carbon dioxide from a cylinder. This is the way large-scale producers do it, though some smaller scale makers in the United Kingdom are also trying it.

Secondary fermentation in the bottle was discovered in the 17th century. Sir Kenelm Digby had an estate on the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border, in an area where coal has been mined for centuries. Using coal to fire the furnaces, he was able to make glass strong enough to make bottles for wine, cider and beer, replacing the wineskin or leather bottle. He also hit upon the idea of closing the glass bottle with a cork.

Sweet ciders in a bottle developed a fizz when the live yeast got going again, and the carbon dioxide had nowhere to go. This method was rediscovered in Champagne -- about 150 years later. There are several English ciders produced this way including Bollhayes, Burrow Hill and Gospel Green.

Last year, a bottle-fermented perry was available for the first time in many years. This was made by Jean Nowell at Lyne Down Farm, Herefordshire. She has since retired, but her neighbor, James Marsden at Gregg's Pit Farm, has picked up the challenge and has produced a small quantity of delicious medium-dry sparkling perry.

In France, since the 1950s, a different approach has been taken. The fermentation begins in tank but is completed in the bottle. This makes for a lighter, sweeter cider or perry than is the norm among U.K. cider makers. The presence of the yeast in the bottle makes for a cloudy product, which can put some people off, but the taste is the important thing, and the taste is often very good.

Most cider making worldwide follows the U.K. commercial approach. Bulmers of Hereford is the world's biggest cider company. Some make cider in the traditional British way, and others are more in the French style. But there are craft-made ciders and perries almost everywhere apples and pears are grown. Search them out.

I have been in touch with cider makers in California, New England, Australia, and New Zealand. There are almost certainly cider makers elsewhere. I would be interested to hear from any cider maker anywhere to help me compile a list of cider and perry makers worldwide.

In the 1550s, someone in Normandy started to distill cider. In 1558, a ship, from the Spanish Armada attempting an invasion of England was wrecked on the Normandy coast. The ship was called El Calvador. The name was given to the to the new drink and so Calvados was born. Or so the legend goes. Calvados is also the name of the region in Normandy where Calvados is produced.

Many cider producers also produce a Calvados. Each producer will have his own blend of cider apples, his own barrels, and stills. There are many individual producers.

Some are pure essence of apple flavor in rather a lot of alcohol, while the ones my Norman friends prefer seem to have more in common with rocket fuel. Calvados is aged in oak barrels, so the older ones will, in general, be smoother than and less fiery than younger ones, which in turn have more of the apple. The age at which there is the right balance between smoothness and apple flavor is very personal, and will vary from individual to individual.

Pommeau is a blend of Calvados with unfermented juice of cider apples, and makes a gentle aperitif.

In the 17th century, "royal cider" was distilled from cider in England. It had some initial success, but did not catch on. It was replaced by first by gin, and later by whiskey.

Applejack was first produced in New England, by distilling cider, toward the end of 18th century. It is not widely available in Europe.

In the 1970s, Bertram Bulmer went to Normandy and came back with a still, which is now in the Hereford Cider Museum, where an English cider brandy is made. When I took some to a friend's birthday in Normandy, everybody laughed at even the idea of an English "Calvados". But when my friend tried some and said, "C'est bon!" they all had to try. By the time the bottle came back around, there was none left.

To celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the cider museum has released just 253 bottles of a 12-year-old, cask-strength cider brandy. It has been matured in a barrel made from an oak tree from the Royal Estate at Windsor. See www.cidermuseum.co.uk for details. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will probably not allow Americans to order it.

Also in the 1970s, Julian Temperley set up the Somserset Cider Brandy Company with two stills from Normandy. A Cornish cider maker has just started production of cider brandy, though it will be several years before it is ready for sale.

A vineyard in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, has also produced a rather fiery cider brandy, which also has its devotees.

Alongside cider and perry, it looks as if Calvados and home-produced cider brandies may finally be making their mark on the British market.

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(Geoff Morris can be reached at Orchard, Hive & Vine, 6 The Buttercross, Leominster, Herefordshire UK HR6 8BN E-mail: gmorris@ohv.wyenet.co.uk)