CIDER. 171 
so that as a source of fat it is “ equivalent to butter at eightpence 
a pound.” 
For making “ Cocoa-nut drops,” to a grated Cocoa-nut add 
half its weight in sugar, and the white of one egg beaten stiff ; 
drop small pieces on a buttered paper, and sift sugar over 
them; bake for fifteen minutes in a slow oven. Again, 
for “ Cocoa-nut toffee,” take a fresh Cocoa-nut, and a pound 
of sugar; grate the interior of the nut, and boil the sugar 
with its milk mixed with a cupful of water ; when nice and thick 
add the grated Cocoa-nut ; stir all the time till you see it coming 
off quite clear from the sides, then remove from the fire; grease 
the dishes on which you pour it; mark it out in squares with 
the back of a knife, and let it get cold, when it will be pronounced 
“very good.” 
CIDER. (See APPLE.) 
Crper (or “ Cyder,” an early form of the word) is the juice of 
apples which has been fermented advisedly. It contains about 
the lowest percentage of alcohol of all popular fermented drinks. 
Unlike beer, or any other malt liquor, it acts as an antidote to 
gout, and to uric acid rheumatism. Vintage apples, as used 
for making Cider, contain more tannin than the table fruit, 
and this imparts tonic properties to the liquor apart from its 
general astringent principle. Moreover, Cider districts enjoy 
a remarkable immunity from disorders of a choleraic nature, 
and it is within the repeated experience of Cider drinkers that 
gout and rheumatism fly before this liquor. Chemically the 
sub-acid juices of the apples become converted by combustion 
within the body into alkaline salts, which neutralize all the 
gouty elements wherewith they meet. A good Cider contains 
a considerable quantity of potash, and soda, so that from 
drinking it there is almost no acid resultant within the body. 
“It will beggar a physitian,” wrote Austen, “to live where 
Cider and Perry are of general use.” In making sweet Cider 
the fermentation is artificially arrested, so that the amount of 
aleohol which becomes created is very small, and some free sugar 
remains still in solution; therefore this sweet Cider is not so 
wholesome for rheumatic persons as the rough Cider with its 
fermentation finished, and no sugar remaining. Medical 
testimony goes to show that in countries and districts where 
natural Cider is the common beverage, stone in the bladder is 
