North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Joe Hecksel" <jhecksel@voyager.net>]

> Hi Joe,
> 
> So is "perry" freshly pressed pear juice and "cider" freshly pressed 
apple juice?

My understanding is that perry is typically fermented pear juice.  
Cider is fermented apple juice nearly everywhere except North America, 
where we assume that it is apple juice.

Even in North America it used to mean apple juice in various states of 
fermentation.  I know many an old-timer who laments the near universal 
sterilization of apple juice.  They like a slight CO2 tingle to their 
cider.  It just does not taste right to them.

I predict that "cultured" ciders will hit the market in the next five 
years.  They will be analogous to cultured yogurts.  Cultured apple 
juice has several selling points.  
-It recaptures the taste of old cider
-The cultured organisms will shoulder aside any bad-nasties that drop 
into the jug out of the sky
-If stored in a 65F room it will turn into hard cider with no tax hit

Champaign yeast has been the most robust fermenter.  Unfortunately, it 
also ferments at refrigeration temperatures and has a near neutral 
flavor profile.  It does not add much to the flavor.  

The other yeasts I used were either excrutiatingly slow fermenters or 
had "airplane glue" odors that required 4 weeks to age out of.

> 
> I realized everyone understands what is meant, when someone 
prefixes "cider" with various fruit names, but
> technically does "cider" refer to apples?
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> Thanks,
> Tom
> 

-- 
Joe Hecksel
Personal Webpage http://my.voyager.net/~jhecksel