Cider facts for kids
Cider is a tasty drink usually made from apple juice. It can be enjoyed by many people around the world!
In places like Europe and Oceania, cider is a drink that contains alcohol. It's made from apple juice using a special process called fermentation. This is when tiny living things (like yeast) turn the sugar in the juice into alcohol.
In the United States and parts of Canada, if cider has alcohol, it's called hard cider or alcoholic cider. But if someone just says "cider" or "apple cider," they usually mean apple juice that isn't as sweet and often hasn't been filtered.
Around Halloween and Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada, people often drink a special kind of apple cider. It's usually thick and not filtered. People often warm it up and add spices like cinnamon before drinking it. This is different from how cider is usually enjoyed in Europe, where it's rarely heated.
How Cider Is Made
To make cider, people usually pick apples that have a lot of something called tannins. Tannins are natural compounds that give a slightly bitter or dry taste.
The apple juice then goes through fermentation. This process happens at cool temperatures, usually between 4 and 15 degrees Celsius. The temperature affects how long it takes for the cider to be ready. It also changes how the cider will taste.
Just before all the natural sugar in the juice turns into alcohol, the cider is moved to a new, airtight barrel. Any remaining sugar will then turn into carbonic acid. This makes the cider fizzy and helps it last longer without needing to be pasteurized (heated to kill germs).
Cider is also the first step in making a famous and often expensive alcoholic drink called Calvados.
Where Cider Is Made
Cider is made almost anywhere that special cider-apple trees grow. France makes the most cider in the world.
The United Kingdom makes the most different kinds of cider. Along with Ireland, the UK also has the biggest market for cider, meaning lots of people there buy and drink it.
Kinds of Cider
Hard cider contains alcohol, which changes its taste. Makers can control the alcohol level by deciding when to stop the fermentation:
- Sweet Cider: If the cider has 3 degrees of alcohol or less, it will be sweet, much like apple juice. In France, this is called cidre doux. People often drink it with desserts.
- Medium Cider: With 3 to 5 degrees of alcohol, the cider can be enjoyed with meals like fish or meat. The French call this cidre demi-sec or cidre brut (classique).
- Traditional Hard Cider: This type usually has 5 degrees of alcohol or more.
- Calvados: This strong alcoholic drink is made from cider through a process called double distillation. The first step makes a liquid with about 28% to 30% alcohol. A second step increases the alcohol to about 40%.
In France, the sweet, medium, and Calvados types are the most popular. In English-speaking countries, you can find cider with up to 12 degrees of alcohol.
When to Drink Cider
In French and Spanish cooking, cider is sometimes used as an ingredient in recipes. People in France and Spain also often drink cider instead of wine, which is made from grapes.
In Europe, many young people enjoy drinking cider. It often costs less than wine and is served in pubs and other places where young people gather.
Cider, when it contains alcohol, has the same effects as any other alcoholic drink.
Images for kids
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Cider, in the traditional Hessian "ribbed" glass
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Cider jugs from Somerset, England
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Old horse-drawn cider presses are now often used as garden decorations.
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Layers of apple pulp wrapped in canvas during cider making.
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Sinebrychoff's Crowmoor cider.
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Polish cider sold in Krakow.
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Asturian cider being poured in the traditional way.
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Basque people drinking cider in a sagardotegi (cider house).
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A glass of Rekorderlig wild-berries cider.
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American craft hard cider in a bottle.
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