What Makes Apple Cider Really Cider?

“Everyone I know is going apple picking,” an Atlanta-to-DC transplant marveled recently. “Is that a thing you’re supposed to do?”

Yes, yes, you are. It is indeed still fall, despite the influx of eggnog, peppermint and gingerbread. Starbucks is clearly waging a war not on Christmas, but on Thanksgiving.

Now is the time to engage in all things autumnal: Picking apples, jumping in piles of dried leaves, festooning our home with decorative gourds, and consuming gallons of apple cider.

First, let’s get one thing straight. Cider is not just a fancy name for apple juice. That stuff is filtered, clarified, boiled and bottled at 212 degrees F. All of that heat and filtering changes the flavor, making it less complex and more generic.

Sticking a cinnamon stick in a glass of Motts does not apple cider make. “Making cider is just pressing the apples and pressing the liquid out,” said Dudley Rinker, owner of Rinker’s Orchards in Stephenson, Va. Some of the apple ciders that are sold in grocery stores this time of year add potassium sorbate or other preservatives to extend the shelf life. Rinker’s cider is flash-pasteurized at 160 degrees F for six seconds, then cooled down to 32 degrees F as quickly as possible.

“Flash pasteurization kills e-coli, “ Rinker said. “We don’t have it, but it kills something we don’t have. (Americans) have lost natural immunity.”

Also, it’s an FDA requirement.

Apple cider, Rinker said, never goes bad. It just moves through the stages of life. “When it’s first pressed, it’s like a baby—sweet little thing. When it gets older, it gets a little bite—like a teenager. Then it turns to hard cider—you have to be 21—and once you let it go, it will continue to age into vinegar. That’s like grumpy old men.”