Cocoa Atelier’s macarons from Dublin, Ireland! I used to stop in here all the time when I lived in Maynooth. I would make myself sick on these things they were so good. Worth it.
Campfire breve from Katz Club Diner! This beauty is a breve cappuccino made with housemade smoked vanilla bean syrup topped with a housemade toasted marshmallow and spices.
Freshly picked peppers from Eddy’s Fruit Farm in Chesterland, OH! I stopped by to pick some concord grapes and apples and couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of all the fresh produce!
Today, I’ll be taking a look at some pre-Roman cider, from Gaul! As most of our records come from Roman sources, we don’t get much insight beyond “The Gauls are so different to us Romans, they don’t even drink wine! They just drink fermented grains and fruits like barbarians”
And while these are, inherently, totally biased records, they provide a decent look at what they drank! Since we know that apples were cultivated in this region, and has a history of cider production, we can assume that Gauls created archaic forms of cider - which I’ll now attempt to do now!
In any case, let’s now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like what I make, please consider supporting me on Patreon!
Ingredients
Enough apples for 2-3L apple juice honey (to taste) dried yeast
Special Utensils
Glass Demijohn/Terracotta pot Siphon
DISCLAIMER Before I begin, I have to reinforce that this is a recipe for an alcoholic beverage, so please don’t make this if you’re underage! Also, check your local laws on home-brewing alcohol - it’s legal for personal consumption where I am, but it might be illegal wherever you are!
Method
1 - Peel and Press Apples Start by peeling and chopping them up into small pieces. Any kind of apple will work here, but older strains of apples would be sour - which coincidentally make for great cider!
We don’t know exactly how Gauls in antiquity pressed the juice from the apples, it’s possible they were mashed together, and then crushed through a thin cloth. This will allow you to extract most of the liquid from the pulp. Modern cider makers have a specialised press to do this, which is much easier than this method - but is unlikely to have been found in this time period.
I used a potato ricer, which provides an easy modern juice extraction!
2 - Combine Ingredients When you’ve extracted about 2-3 litres of juice, go pour this into a glass demijohn. Or a terracotta pot. Whichever is easiest for you to use! Into this, pour a sachet of dried yeast - while this wasn’t available in antiquity, it’s a faster and more reliable way of getting the cider to ferment. Wild yeast would have been captured by the juice through contact with the air - but this is unpredictable, and may not result in a strong fermentation process.
Onto all of this, add a few dollops of honey to the mix. This is to sweeten the final mix a little, and even out the sourness of the apples. Adjust this based on how tart your apples are.
When everything is in, swirl it around, making sure everything is combined. Cover the top of your brewing container with a very damp cloth - or a brewing airlock if you have one - and leave the whole thing in a warm, dark place for a few days.
3 - Decant and Drink The cider should have fermented enough within 6-7 days of sealing, so uncork it (if you’ve corked it) and smell that lovely apple goodness! Decant this using a siphon, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the pot.
The finished drink is lovely and smooth, and has a very mild carbonation - thanks to the natural fermentation process. This batch was also quite strong and sweet, due to the honey.
While you can drink this as-is, heating a glass of this up slightly, and adding a spoonful of honey to it really improves the aroma, and cuts the sharpness a little.
All in all, a wonderful drink to keep you warm on an autumn day!
Picture the scene: A bustling New England tavern, December 1785. Two patrons sit at the bar, swapping war stories and discussing nascent U.S. political philosophy over mugs of… of what, exactly?
MSU Special Collections recently acquired an early American tavern keeper’s account book that can help answer that question—recording what American revolutionaries and their contemporaries were drinking (and eating) over two centuries ago.
Dating from December 1785 through 1788, this tavern keeper’s logbook tracks the sale of brandy, rum, flips, slings, toddies and other contemporary beverages, illustrating the drinking habits of 18th century New Englanders. There are some entries for meals, and for sales of salt, sugar, and other commodities (as well as “one cake of chocolate”), but unsurprisingly the most popular fare was liquid in nature.
While the barkeep’s name remains anonymous, it is easy enough to trace the ledger to Sterling, Massachusetts—the town’s name is written several times across the tattered paper covers, and a number of personal names penned in the book can be found in Sterling’s early town records.
This manuscript account book is in amazingly good shape considering its age (231 years old) and heavy use, and it gives us a rare insight into the types of transactions that must have been commonplace at shops and taverns of the period. So join us in raising a mug of brandy flip (or a slice of chocolate cake, if you prefer) in honor of our recent acquisition!
