Why indeed?

Perhaps the best way to explain is it to ask yourself a question: if I were to stop 100 people in the street today and ask them what cider is and how it’s made, I reckon most of the answers I’d get would be more or less accurate. It’s fermented apple juice.

To take it a step further, imagine what would happen if I then asked those same 100 randoms: how much apple juice is in cider? I’d almost certainly get some puzzled expressions but very probably the answer would be ‘well, all of it surely?’ Now we’re getting somewhere.

Because we all know that’s how cider should be made but the problem is that it’s not how cider is actually made. Well, the vast majority of it anyway.

And before we get any further, I’d like to point out that am not an evangelist for ‘real’ cider. Well, I sort of am but I’m not on a crusade. It’s a personal thing. And I don’t even have a problem with global companies producing drinks chock full of weird and wonderful artificial additives in the pursuit of profit. If you like a can or six of Strongbow Dark Fruits watching the footy, knock yourself out.

What I do have a problem with however, is the labelling of these drinks as ‘cider’. To call something ‘cider’ in the UK, you see, you only have to have a minimum of 35% apple juice in the product. So the global brewers and cider-makers are doing nothing wrong and are working entirely within the legislation as set out by the UK government. It’s the legislation that is the weak point in the chain. These big brands are legally exploiting the fact that only 35% of what’s in a drink needs to be apple juice before you can call it cider.

And even then, that 35% can be from apple juice concentrate. You know concentrate. That orange juice or apple juice you avoid like the plague in Tesco because it features the shameful ‘made from concentrate’ badge of dishonour. That stuff you wouldn’t give to your kids.

And it gets worse. You can bung in a whole aladdin’s cave of vaguely terrifying additives and still call it cider. High fructose corn syrup? All good. Artificial sweeteners? No worries. Hydrolysed starch syrup? Why the hell not. Artificial colours? Good to go. (If you want to really give yourself the heebie-jeebies, check out the Government’s entire list of permitted additives here.)

But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you want to call something cider in France (or cidre, to be more accurate), it has to be made from 100% apple juice. End of.

The point I’m trying to make is not that these additives shouldn’t be permitted. Pretty much every processed food you eat contains a list as long as your arm of E numbers and unpronounceable additives. No, the point is that all of this stuff should be listed clearly on the pack. That’s where the honest bit of ‘honest cider’ comes in.

The legislation as it stands allows producers to leverage the fact that the vast majority of consumers – including me until very recently – have no idea that this is what they’re buying when they buy a can of cider from a big name brand. They think they’re getting a nice, naturally made product when what they’re actually getting is a confection. (And apologies to big name brands, but you do have a very pronounced habit of being the ones most prone to exploiting the weak UK legislation.)

I will reiterate once more that I don’t have it in for the Strongbows or Magners of this world. This is purely a personal journey, one man’s adventure in discovering the joys of cider made the traditional way essentially using a single ingredient: apples. Nothing added, nothing removed.

At the end of the day, the additives are only there as shortcuts or to mask weaknesses in one or more facets of the cider-making process. Making complex, deep, joyous cider from just apples is a far more challenging and time-consuming pursuit and one that this blog intends to celebrate.