The long cider tradition

All crazy about apples

[Tripper: Paola]

IT

Old and new world find a meeting point around a glass of cidery. The drink born from the fermentation of apples was the only alcoholic drink allowed in the America of prohibition but its history comes from afar.
Already produced before the year zero, cider, as we know it today, originated in medieval Normandy. It spread successfully thanks to the cost of apples, less expensive than cereals for beer and the wine production. In addition to conquering the old continent, he went further with the English colonists who set foot in the New World and started apple plantations on the east coast, especially in New England, Maine and Massachusetts.

La strada del Cidro - Oviedo, Spain

The art of pouring cider

The good fortune it enjoys today is linked to the birth of micro craft breweries that expand their offer also with the cider production, but it should be emphasized that the recovery of tradition also goes well with the family atmosphere that reigns in the Cider House and with the search for immersive experiences of the tourist market.
There are characteristic rituals in the consumption of cider.
To prevent the released foam from disappearing too quickly, large glass cups are used to facilitate pouring from above.
On Calle Gascon in Oviedo, a small sloping street introduced by a luminous sign and a large barrel, the show is staged daily.
The arm, with the hand that holds the bottle, must stretch over the head, the other, with the hand that holds the glass, stretches downwards. The long jet allows the cider to remain frothy and this is how it should be drunk, in one sip.
It seems like an easy operation, but hitting the glass from such a large distance is not a business for everyone. Seeing is believing!
It is also tradition that the last drop of cider left in the bottle is poured on the ground, to return to the earth what the earth produces.