FRUIT MANAGEMENT : GRINDING. 
137 
cellular juice of the fruit alone formed the necessary ingredient of good Cider. In Herefordshire 
it was the common belief in those days, as indeed it may still be said to be, that the flavour of the 
Cider was chiefly derived from the kernels or pips, and the colour from the skin of the fruit ; and it 
was therefore considered important that the pips should be crushed in the mill. M. Berjot, a 
distinguished French chemist,—who has studied the subject of Cider making, and who invented a very 
valuable Ecraseur, or crushing mill, and who, moreover, took a prize for an essay on the “ Chemical 
Analysis of the Seeds of Apples ,”—proves, by numerous experiments, that for Cider of the best 
quality it was better not to crush the pips, because the diffusible odour of the essential oil they 
contain, spoilt the delicate flavour of the Cider : but with fruit of an inferior quality, deficient in good 
flavour, that it is rather an advantage to do so, since the pips then gave their own flavour to the 
Cider, and took away the earthy taste it is otherwise so apt to have. M. Berjot’s mill, therefore, 
was specially designed to tear up and crush the fruit without bruising the seeds. 
M. Hauchecorne also distilled the spirit from Cider made with the pips, and from that made 
without pips, and obtained excellent brandy from both, though the flavour was very different. The 
judges pronounced them equally good.—“ Le Cidre',' p. 341. 
The common belief, therefore, that it is necessary to crush the pips to obtain the best quality 
of Cider is not correct; and the impression also that its colour is derived from the skin is equally 
wrong, for, as was pointed out by Marshall, the palest coloured Apples often produced the ruddiest 
Cider. He instanced the Hagloe Crab, and it is equally observable in the Cider from the White 
Must , the Royal Wilding , and several other Apples, that have but little or no colour themselves. 
In grinding the first portions of fruit, especially in a dry season, it is necessary to sprinkle 
water over the Apples “ to wet the mill ” as it is termed. The first grinding should be immediately 
pressed and the expressed juice or must, used to give moisture to the succeeding grindings. The 
facility with which water may be added, however, is much to be lamented, for in this way the character 
of the cider is much deteriorated. It has become the custom, especially in bad seasons when fruit 
is scarce, to add a considerable quantity of water to the must, and the result becomes a water-cider, 
cyder kin, or purre, as our ancestors called it. The value of the so-called “ cider,” is of course 
lessened in proportion to the quantity of water added, and though it may thus be sold at a cheaper 
price, and the adulteration doubtless is made to suit the pockets of customers, it is a sad mistake all 
the same ; increase of bulk increases the trouble and therefore the expense, and the adulteration 
prevents the possibility of obtaining the price a better cider would command. 
The solid portions of the pommage, that which remains in the pressing bags, now called the 
“math,” “cake,” or cheese;” and by old writers “ powz ” or “mure,” is often re-ground at the 
mill along with the inferior fruit and with the addition of a considerable quantity of water. There 
seems every reason to believe that this practice is a good one when the second grinding quickly 
follows the first. In this way an inferior cider, or cyder kin for home use is legitimately made. 
“Some when the Press by utmost Vigour screw’d, 
Has drained the pulpous Mass, regale their swine 
With the dry Refuse: thou more wise shalt steep 
Thy Plusks in Water and again employ 
The pondrous Engine.’” ('Philips “ Cyder”) 
I 
When not required to be re-ground, the math, or cake, is sometimes mixed with chopped 
