152 



CIDER MAKING IN FRANCE. 



[Dec. 1894. 



Ill— CIDER-MAKING IN FRANCE. 



The latest official statistics published by the French Ministry 

 of Agriculture show that the quantity of cider produced in 

 France in 1892 amounted to 333,109,000 gallons, or 129,000,000 

 gallons in excess of the production of the previous year. The 

 average annual output of cider in the ten years 1882-1891 is 

 stated to have been about 263,684,000 gallons. Over 60 per 

 cent, of this quantity appears to have been manufactured in the 

 provinces of Normandy and Brittany, which have the reputation 

 of producing the best ciders. 



French cider makers in these provinces pay great attention 

 to the selection of the fruit. Authorities are agreed that the 

 best cider apples are the slightly bitter, scented varieties which 

 contain a large proportion of sugar combined with a consider- 

 able quantity of tannin and mucilage. Hubert, in his " L'art 

 cle faire le cidre/' says that bitter apples are undoubtedly the 

 best for cider making since they yield a juice of high density 

 with good keeping qualities. The same writer refers to the 

 importance of using accurate instruments for determining the 

 density of the apple juice upon which the quality of the cider 

 so largely depends. For this purpose a special form of saccha- 

 rometer called a cider-meter (pesg cidre) is gecerally used in 

 France, but the areometers of Baume and Cartier are also 

 largely employed. 



The best merchantable ciders are made from a mixture of 

 apples ; consisting usually of one third sweet varieties to two 

 thirds of bitter. In the preparation of small-cider for household 

 consumption the proportions are generally reversed. Acid 

 apples are seldom used. Hauchecorne, who has written a 

 standard work on cider- making, says it is a good practice to 

 select small fruit, because, as a rule, it will be found that a 

 measure of small apples will weigh heavier than a similar 

 measure of large fruit, and consequently the former contain a 

 larger proportion of the useful constituents. 



After the apples have been picked, they are left in heaps to 

 ripen, sometimes in the open, but usually in a covered place 

 under a shed or in a cellar, sheltered from damp. 



Cider- ma king commences when the apples are ripe. For 

 crushing the apples the ordinary iron crushing-machines are used 

 on t! e small farms, but in larger establishments where large 

 quantities of cider are manufactured the crushing or pulping 

 mills are furnished with granite cylinder^. 



Experts differ in opinion on the question of the crushing of 

 the pips. From some experiments conducted by M. Beyot at 

 Caen, it would appear that in the manufacture of the best cider 

 it is better not to crush the pips. In making second quality 



