Real Cider

Dr. Alan Lee, an archeologist, wrote this in response to a history snippet:

Lynn,

Virtually all references to "cider" in C19th America, and elsewhere in the world to the present day, mean the somewhat alcoholic fermented juice of the apple.  The insipid apple juice that Americans buy as "cider" at the grocery store and serve to the kiddies at Halloween parties, is an artifact of prohibition times.  Today, sadly, so-called cider by law is pasturized by the producer beyond all possibility of fermenting into real cider.  It is illeagal for even the owner of a small orchard to market cider that is capable of fermenting.  I say this with regret because as a boy, in the late 1950s, I helped make cider with my grandfather, using our apples and our cider press, and still recall fondly the wonderful and changing complexity of flavors as the resulting beverage slowly aged and matured.

Just by coincidence, NPR ran an article on cider just recently.  Here is a reference:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132054630/cider-winter-kitchen-s-secret-weapon

Gives a whole new perspective on "Johnny Appleseed", don't you think?

Regards,

Al