Cider syrup facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Cider syrup

Bottled cider syrup (unlabeled)
Alternative names	Apple molasses
Place of origin	United States
Main ingredients	syrup (usually from apple cider)
Food energy (per serving)	172 per serving kcal

Cider syrup is also called apple molasses. It's a sweet syrup made from apple cider. People first made it in colonial America. This syrup is thick, dark brown, and has a strong apple taste. It's darker than honey and tastes more tart than maple syrup. Making syrup from apples helps keep the apple flavor for a long time. This means people could enjoy apples even when they weren't in season.

Cider syrup is a natural food that's easy to make. You don't need special ingredients or tools. To make it, you boil sweet cider and stir it until most of the water is gone. Many farms in Maine, Massachusetts, and other parts of New England still make apple cider syrup today. Long ago, it was an important way to sweeten food. It was used instead of molasses or sugar brought from other countries. People used apple cider syrup in baking for cakes, cookies, pies, and baked beans. They also used it on pancakes and puddings. Cider syrup has good things like sodium, potassium, sugars, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium. It's a special food tradition in the United States that's becoming rare.

History of Apple Syrup

Early American Times

Long ago, hard cider was a very popular drink in the United States. During colonial America, people thought water wasn't safe to drink. So, Americans drank hard cider with every meal. The Pilgrims didn't use much cane sugar. They liked cider syrup as a sweetener instead. Places like New England, eastern Massachusetts, and Maine had many different kinds of apples.

From Revolution to Civil War

Cider syrup became very important during the American Revolution. This was because molasses and sugar were brought in from British plantations in the West Indies. So, American patriots needed to make their own sweetener. The American Civil War also made cider syrup popular again. People in the North didn't want to use cane sugar because it came from places that used slavery. Cider syrup stayed important in the US until the Prohibition period. During Prohibition, many apple trees were cut down, which also stopped cider syrup from being made and used as much.

What Cider Syrup Tastes Like

Cider syrup is still around today. People like it because of its fruity taste and many layers of flavor. Just one drop of cider syrup can taste like apple blossoms, citrus, and honey. It has a rich flavor, with a little bit of smokiness. This smoky taste comes from the edges of the syrup getting slightly charred while it's being made. These things make the syrup unique.

Apple cider syrup smells strongly of fresh apples. It also has a dark color and a caramelized sweetness. This sweetness is balanced by a sharp acidity. This balance comes from the natural sugar and acid in most North American dessert apples.

The apple cider syrup is a thick, dark brown syrup. It can be clear or not clear, and it has a tangy bite. No extra food additives or sugar are added to it. It tastes more tart than maple syrup.

Best Apples for Syrup

In the past, boiled cider was often made from "sweeting" apples. These apples had less malic acid and were naturally very sweet. Types like "Summer Sweeting" were often used. This might mean old New England apple varieties like 'Hightop Sweet' from eastern Massachusetts or 'Sidney Sweet' from Maine. Today, farmers still grow apple trees in old-fashioned ways, without harmful chemicals.

How Climate Affects Apples

The weather, like temperature, how much rain falls, how much sunshine there is, and the soil pH (how acidic the soil is), can all change how apples grow. This directly affects how sweet and acidic the cider syrup will be. So, cider syrup from one year might taste different from the next year's. Sometimes, farmers even buy special apples from other orchards to make the best cider and syrup.

How Cider Syrup is Made

Old Ways of Making It

Boiling syrup

To make cider syrup, people used to put fresh apple juice into a large, open metal pot. They would boil it and skim off anything that floated to the top. The juice would boil down until it was about one-seventh of its original amount. This means making apple cider syrup took a lot of work and was expensive. Some old recipes said that the best apple molasses could be made by steam cooking apples, pressing their juice, and then reducing that juice. Most makers just ground, squeezed, and boiled the apples into fresh juice. Some of this juice was fermented into alcohol, and some was made into cider syrup.

Modern Ways of Making It

Today, companies boil pure cider syrup in a special machine called an evaporator. This is similar to how maple syrup is made from maple sap.

Storing Cider Syrup Safely

To keep cider syrup fresh for a long time, it's best to store it away from light and below 10°C. You don't have to put it in the fridge, but that's a great place for it. The syrup has a lot of sugar, which helps stop bacteria from growing.

Cider Syrup in Business

Past Uses and Sales

Cider syrup was a local and cheap choice for many farmers who lived far from big cities or rivers. It was like maple sugar in that way. Long ago, early settlers used boiled cider or cider jelly to get nutrients, especially during the winter months. These products were also used to make other fruit syrups, preserved fruits, and jelly before pectin was sold in stores. This way of cooking was passed down from old New England kitchens. Cider syrup not only made apples last longer, but it also helped farms earn more money. They could sell the syrup for three to five times the price of the apples themselves.

After the American Civil War, as more people moved west and fewer farms existed in New England, the farming economy slowed down. After the Second World War, there were fewer recipes using cider syrup. It became hard to find businesses selling traditional New England cider syrup. Because it was easy to make at home, boiled cider became less known. It was overshadowed by maple syrup and honey. Today, boiled cider is not very well known, even in its traditional home of New England.

Recent Popularity

In 2015, Averill Farm in Massachusetts introduced a new product using cider syrup. They found a new way to use the syrup that looked promising for business. They realized cider syrup could work well with other farm products. They started adding cider syrup to wine instead of sugar and honey. This new product sold very well at the Franklin Country Cider Days. It was available in stores by the end of November that year. Soon after, cider syrup gained many new customers.

In 2007, a young chef in New Hampshire who supported "Slow Food" created a new ice cream. It was called "caramel apple gelato" and showed off the caramelized and smoky taste of the syrup. This kind of new idea helps create new markets and appreciation for cider syrup. It also helps secure its future. Apple cider syrup is now popular in cocktail bars and special shops in the US. They are creating new mixed drinks that use the syrup.

Nutrition Facts

Cider syrup full nutrition list

Cider syrup has about 2.9g of total fat, 8mg of cholesterol, 9mg of sodium, and 41mg of potassium. It has 37.4g of total carbohydrates, with 34g of sugars. It also contains 89IU of Vitamin A, 1mg of Vitamin C, and 7mg of Calcium. One serving has 172 total calories. Cider syrup also has a lot of pectin from the apples.

Cider Syrup Festival

"Cider Syrup Days" is a fun community event. It was held by the CISA organization (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). The event took place at the 'North Hadley Sugar Shack' in Massachusetts. Cider Syrup Days ran for two days, from 7 am on November 7 to 8 pm on November 8, 2015.

Dishes Made with Cider Syrup

Here are some recipes that use apple cider syrup: