It is claimed that cider, when pure and well made, is not merely an extremely wholesome drink, but a very helpful one to those who suffer from gout or rheumatism. It is asserted that cider will even cure these painful disorders, and that those who drink the juice of the apple are far less subject to aching joints and limbs than { 181} other quaffers. It is the “malic acid” in the liquor which is so inimical to these diseases; and as a cider-drinker of considerable experience, and a sad sufferer, at times, from both diseases, I can safely say that there is no “touch” of either in the “natural” Norfolk cider made by Messrs. Gaymer—a dry wine which is very palatable, and is one of the best and the most wholesome of beverages.
Cider at its strongest does not contain a large percentage of alcohol, and its makers contend that its qualities are more health-giving and far less heady than those of any other liquor consumed in England. According to Mr. Radcliffe Cooke, an enthusiast on the subject, the revival in the cider industry dates from 1890, and there is every hope that that industry will flourish more and more, through the centuries. The recognized cider fruit may be divided into “bitter-sweets”—such as the so-called Norman apples and the Wildings—and the “red” fruits, such as the nearly extinct “Red Streak.” The best cider is made from an admixture of the two sorts. But the gout-fuge cider, we gather from another writer, should be made from a _single_ sort of apple.
“There is no difficulty,” writes Mr. Cooke, “in expressing the apple juice; but the fermentation process is not sufficiently studied, and it is here that failure commonly occurs.”
“As for the making of Perry and Cider,” writes an authority of the seventeenth century, “which are drinkes much used in the West parts, and other countries well stored with fruit in this { 182} kingdome; you shall know that your perry is made of peares onely, and your cider of apples; and for the manner of making thereof, it is done after one fashion, that is to say, after your Peares and Apples are well prickt from the stalkes, rottennesse, and all manner of other filthe, you shall put them in the presse mill which is made with a mil-stone running round in a circle, under which you shall crush your peares or apples, and then straining them through a bagge of haire cloth, tunne up the same (after it hath bene a little setled) into hogs-heads, barrels, and other close vessels.