Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 147

The attention of the cider farmer should be first directed to the culture of the apple tree. The situation most appropriate for an orchard is one on rising ground, rather dry than moist, and unexposed to sea air or high winds. The soil should be strong, but not too heavy, and should be rich in the alkaline and earthy bases, especially the phosphates. The selection of the proper varieties of the apple for grafting is also a point on which particular care should be taken. It is found that the juices of different kinds of apples vary in the quant.i.ty of saccharine matter which they contain, as well as in other particulars that influence the quality and flavour of the cider prepared from them. As a general rule, those varieties should be chosen that yield a juice rich in sugar, and contain no undue amount of acid, and which, after the period of active fermentation is past, furnishes a liquor which clarifies itself and keeps well. This quality of the juice may generally be determined from its specific gravity. The heaviest and clearest is the best, other points being equal. The specific gravity of the juice of the different varieties of apple varies from 1060 to 1100.

Cider apples are cla.s.sed under three heads--bitter, sweet, and sour. The first are the best; their juice has the greatest specific gravity, is the richest in sugar, ferments the most freely, clarifies spontaneously the quickest, and keeps the best after fermentation. They contain a minute quant.i.ty of extractive matter which is not present in other apples. The juice of sweet apples ferments tumultuously, clears with difficulty, and the resulting cider does not keep so well as that produced from the first variety. The juice of sour apples contains less sugar and more acid than the other two, and consequently not only produces the weakest, but the worst cider; it, however, "fines" well, although it "stores" badly. Sour and "rough-tasted" apples are usually preferred by farmers for making cider. This preference, which is very decided in the West of England, may be readily accounted for. The sour and rough-tasted apples contain less sugar and more malic acid than some of the other varieties, and the presence of this acid impedes the conversion of the alcohol of the cider into vinegar; a change which their rude mode of operating renders otherwise inevitable. But cider made with such apples never equals in quality that prepared at a low temperature, from fruit abounding in sugar, provided equal skill is exercised in the manufacture as in the process of converting malt-worts into beer.

The process of making cider varies in different places, but in every case essentially consists of the collection of the fruit, the expression and fermentation of the juice, and the storing and management of the fermented liquor.

The collection of the fruit should not be commenced before it has become sufficiently mature, and should be performed with greater care than is commonly bestowed upon it. The apples, after being gathered, are usually left for 14 or 15 days in a barn or loft to mellow, during which time a considerable portion of the mucilage is decomposed, and alcohol and carbonic acid developed. If this "ripening" is allowed to go too far, loss arises, notwithstanding the vulgar prejudice in its favour. The spoiled apples are then separated from the sound ones, as they not only impart a bad flavour to the cider, but impede its spontaneous clarification.

The expression of the juice is the next step in the process of cider-making. The apples are crushed or ground in mills consisting of two fluted cylinders of hard wood or cast-iron, working against each other.

The common practice is next to sprinkle the pulp with 1/6th to 1/4th of its weight of spring or river water, and then to allow it to remain in tubs or wooden cisterns for 12 or 14 hours, during which time incipient fermentation commences, and the breaking up of the cells of the membrane takes place, by which the subsequent separation of the juice is facilitated. This plan, though general among cider manufacturers, is prejudicial to the quality of the future liquor; as not only is a portion of the newly formed alcohol lost, but the skins and pips often impart to it a disagreeable flavour. By employing more efficient crus.h.i.+ng machinery this system of vatting is rendered quite unnecessary. A machine furnished with a revolving circular rasp, similar to that used in making potato starch, is admirably adapted to this purpose.

The pulp of the crushed or ground apples is now placed on a kind of wicker frame, or in hair-cloth or coa.r.s.e canvas bags, and after being allowed to drain into suitable tubs or receivers, is subjected to powerful pressure, gradually applied, in the cider press. The liquor which runs off first is the best, and is usually kept separately; whilst that which follows, especially the portion obtained by much pressure, tastes of the pips and skins.

The expressed juice or "must," obtained as above, is next put into clean casks with large bung-holes, and freely exposed to the air and the shade, where they are placed on "stillions," with flat tubs under them to catch the waste. They are now constantly attended to and kept quite full, in order that the yeast, as it forms, may froth over and be carried off from the surface of the liquor. After 2 or 3 days for weak cider, and 8 or 10 days for strong cider, or as soon as the sediment has subsided, the liquor is "racked off" into clean casks, which have been (according to the common practice) previously sulphured with a cooper's match. The casks containing the "racked cider" are then stored in a cellar, shaded barn, or other cool place, where a low and regular temperature can be ensured, and are left to mature or ripen. By the following spring the cider is commonly fit for use, and may be "re-racked" for sale.

The marc, or pressed pulp, is generally again sprinkled with 1/3 or 1/2 its weight of water, and re-pressed. The resulting liquor, when fermented, forms a weak kind of cider (cider moil, water moil), which is reserved for domestic use in the same way as table-beer. The refuse-pulp (apple-marc, pomace, pommage, apple cheese) is used as food for pigs and store cattle, and is very acceptable to them.

The storing and management of cider are matters of vast importance to the cider farmer, the factor, the wholesale dealer, and the bottler. The principles by which these should be directed are precisely similar to those which are explained under the heads BREWING, FERMENTATION, and MALT LIQUORS; and which, indeed, refer, with slight modifications, to all fermented liquors.

Preparatory to bottling cider it should be examined, to see whether it is clear and sparkling. If not so, it should be clarified in a similar way to beer, and left for a fortnight. The night before it is intended to put it into bottles the bung should be taken out of the cask, and left so until the next day, and the filled bottles should not be corked down until the day after; as, if this is done at once, many of the bottles will burst by keeping. The best corks should alone be used. Champagne bottles are the variety generally chosen for cider. It is usual to wire down the corks, and to cover them with tinfoil, after the manner of champagne. A few bottles at a time may be kept in a warm place to ripen. When the cider is wanted for immediate use, or for consumption during the cooler portion of the year, a small piece of lump sugar may be put into each bottle before corking it; or, what is the same thing in effect, the bottles may be corked within 2 or 3 hours after being filled. In summer, and for long keeping, this practice is, however, inadmissible. The bottled stock should be stored in a cool cellar, when the quality will be greatly improved by age. Cider for bottling should be of good quality, sound and piquant, and at least a twelvemonth old. When out of condition it is unfit for bottling.

_Qual., &c._ Cider, when of good quality, and in good condition, is doubtless a very wholesome liquor. Cider consumers, living in the cider districts, appear to enjoy almost an immunity from cholera, and often from other diseases which are common in other parts of the kingdom. At the same time, however, it is right to mention, that the dry colic or belly-ache (_colica pictonum_) is far from uncommon in these districts, but is wholly confined to those who drink early, hard, or inferior cider, made from harsh, unripe fruit. We believe that, in most cases, it may be referred to the acid of the common cider having acted on the lead, pewter, or copper of the articles or utensils with which it has come in contact, and of which it has dissolved a very minute portion. The best cider contains from 8% to 10% of absolute alcohol; ordinary cider from 4% to 6%.

_Concluding Remarks._ Much of the excellence of cider depends upon the temperature at which the fermentation is conducted; a point utterly overlooked by the manufacturers of this liquor. Instead of the apple-juice, as soon as it is expressed from the fruit, being placed in a cool situation, where the temperature should not exceed 50 or 52 Fahr., it is frequently left exposed to the full heat of autumn. In this way much of the alcohol formed by the decomposition of the sugar is converted into vinegar by the absorption of atmospheric oxygen, and thus the liquor acquires that peculiar and unwholesome acidity known in the cider districts by the name of "roughness." When, on the contrary, the fermentation is conducted at a low temperature, nearly the whole of the sugar is converted into alcohol, and this remains in the liquor, instead of undergoing the process of acetification. The acetous fermentation, by which alcohol is converted into vinegar, proceeds most rapidly at a temperature of about 90 Fahr., and at lower temperatures the action becomes gradually slower, until at 46 to 50 Fahr. no such change takes place. (Liebig.) It is therefore evident that if the saccharine juice of apples, or any other fruit, is made to undergo the vinous fermentation in a cool situation, less of the spirit resulting from the transformation of the sugar will be converted into acetic acid, and, consequently, more will be retained in an unaltered state in the liquor, to improve its quality, and by its conservative and chemical action to preserve it from future change. This is the princ.i.p.al cause, other circ.u.mstances being alike, of the difference in the quality of the cider made by persons living in the same district. The one has probably a cooler barn and cellar than the other to store his liquor in, and is more careful to keep the pulp and juice cool during the early part of the process. In Devons.h.i.+re the pressing and fermentation are conducted in situations where the temperature varies little from that of the external air, and fluctuates with all its changes; the result is that Devons.h.i.+re cider, of the best cla.s.s, will rarely keep more than 4 or 5 years, and seldom improves after the second or third year; whilst the cider of Herefords.h.i.+re and Worcesters.h.i.+re, where these operations are more carefully attended to, will keep for 20 or 30 years.

When the pressing the apples for the juice is deferred until late in the season, it sometimes happens that the fermentation is sluggish. Though the juice has been set on the old system, in November or December, the working hardly commences until March. At this time the cider is sweet; it now rapidly becomes pungent and vinous, and is soon ready to be racked for use. If the fermentation still continues, it is again racked into a clean cask that has been sulphured; or two or three cans of the cider are put into a cask, and a brimstone-match burned in it. The cask is then agitated, after which it is nearly filled with the cider. By this process the fermentation is checked, and the cider in a short time becomes fine.

Great care must be taken that the sulphuring be not overdone, as it is apt to impart a slightly unpleasant flavour to the liquor. If, on the first operation, the fermentation is not checked, the process of 'racking' is repeated, until the liquor becomes clear, and is continued from time to time, till the cider is in a quiet state and fit for drinking.

A common practice in Devons.h.i.+re is to add a stuff called 'stum,' sold by the wine-coopers, or an article called 'antiferment,' sold by the druggists, for the purpose of checking the fermentation, but a much better plan is that described above.

To improve the flavour of weak cider, or to render ordinary cider more vinous, various plans are followed by the cellarmen and bottlers. An excellent one is to add to each hogshead 1-1/2 gall. of good brandy or rum, with 2 oz. of powdered catechu (dissolved in water), 10 lbs. of good moist sugar or honey, 1/2 oz. each of bitter almonds and cloves, and 4 oz.

of mustard seed (all in powder). These must be well 'rummaged' into the liquor, and the whole occasionally stirred up for a fortnight, after which it must be allowed to repose for 3 or 4 months, when it will usually be found perfectly 'bright,' and no bad subst.i.tute for foreign wine. Should this not be the case, the liquor must be 'fined' with a pint of isingla.s.s finings, or a dozen eggs, and allowed to rest for a fortnight. If the cider is preferred pale, the catechu must be omitted, and instead of isingla.s.s, a quart of skimmed milk is to be used as 'finings.' When desired of a pinkish tint, 1 oz. of cochineal (in powder) may be added instead of the catechu.

About 13 cwt. of November apples commonly yield one hogshead of cider. In Devons.h.i.+re about 6 sacks or 24 bushels are the common quant.i.ty for the hogshead of 63 galls.

The best cider made at the present day is that of Normandy, Herefords.h.i.+re, and New Jersey (U.S.), and next that of Devons.h.i.+re and Somersets.h.i.+re. See ANTIFERMENT, FERMENTATION, &c.

=Cider, Champagne.= This name is given in the United States of America to a fine, pale variety of cider, much used for bottling, which has a great resemblance to inferior champagne. The best variety comes from New Jersey.

The name is also applied in this country in a similar manner. The following is a good form for a 'made' cider of this cla.s.s:--

_Prep._ Good pale vinous cider, 1 hhd.; proof spirit (pale), 3 galls.; honey or sugar, 14 lbs.; mix well, and let them remain together in a temperate situation for 1 month; then add orange-flower water, 3 pints; and in a few days fine it down with skimmed milk, 1/2 gall. A similar article, bottled in champagne bottles, silvered, and labelled, is often sold to the ignorant for champagne.

=Cider, Made.= An article under this name is made in Devons.h.i.+re, chiefly for the supply of the London market, it having been found that the ordinary cider will not stand a voyage to the metropolis without some preparation. The finest quality of 'made' cider is simply ordinary cider racked into clean and well-sulphured casks; but the ma.s.s of that which is sent to London is mixed with water, treacle, and alum. The cider sold in London under the name of Devons.h.i.+re cider would be rejected even by the farmers' servants in that county.

=Cider, Raisin.= This is made in a similar way to raisin wine, but without employing sugar, and with only 2 lbs. of raisins to the gall., or even more, of water. It is usually fit for bottling in 10 days, and in a week longer is ready for use.

=CIDER SPIRIT.= See BRANDY.

=CIGAR.= _Syn._ SEGAR; CIGARRE, Fr.; CIGARRO, Span. A small roll of tobacco-leaf used for smoking. The leaf is stalked or stripped of its midrib, and damped before it pa.s.ses into the hands of the cigar-roller.

The envelope or skin is cut from a smooth, unbroken leaf, and is quickly rolled round sufficient tobacco to form the inside. To secure the loose end of the envelope a small quant.i.ty of paste, coloured brown with chicory, is generally used. Only those who have had great practice can make cigars of a good shape. A full account of the manufacture of cigars does not come within the scope of this work. Although cigars of British make cannot compete in point of flavour with those manufactured in tobacco-growing countries, they have obtained a high degree of favour from the excellent manner in which they are made, and from their comparative cheapness. For information respecting the adulteration of cigars, and the influence of their use upon health, see TOBACCO.

=CIGARS.= (In _pharmacy_.) _Syn._ MED'ICATED CIGARS, M. CIGARETTES'. The administration of medicinal agents in the form of cigars is of recent introduction, and as yet in only very limited use. The medicinal substance, if of a suitable description, as the leaves of plants, is made up into small rolls, like cheroots, and then smoked in the usual manner.

In some cases, common cigars, or paper cigars (cigarettes), are medicated by moistening them in a preparation of the article to be administered.

When the narcotic property of the tobacco would prove injurious, it is first exhausted by soaking and was.h.i.+ng it in water.

=Cigars, Aromatic.= _Syn._ AROMATIC CIGARETTES; CIGARETTae AROMAT'ICae, L.; CIGARETTES AROMATIQUES, Fr. Aromatic spices, lavender flowers, &c., made into cigarettes. Smoked for their odour; and in tooth-ache, face-ache, &c.

See CIGARS, SCENTED.

=Cigars, a.r.s.enical.= _Syn._ CIGARR'ae a.r.s.eNICALES, L. _Prep._ Dissolve a.r.s.eniate of soda, 1 part, in water, 30 parts; dip white, unsized paper into the solution, and form it into small rolls, 3 or 4 inches long. Used in pulmonary consumption; 4 or 5 whiffs as many times a day.

=Cigars, Balsamic.= _Syn._ BALSAMIC CIGARETTES; CIGARRae BALSAMICae, CIGARETTae B., L. Thick, unsized paper is soaked in a solution of saltpetre and dried; after which it is brushed over first with tincture of cascarilla, and when again nearly dry, with compound tincture of benzoin; in about half an hour it is cut into pieces (1-1/2 4 inches), and rolled into cigarettes. Used in hoa.r.s.eness, loss of voice, asthma, &c.

=Cigars, Belladonna.= _Syn._ BELLADONNA CIGARETTES; CIGARETTae BELLADONNae, L. _Prep._ 1. Belladonna leaves made into cigarettes of 1 dr. each.

2. (Compound--C. B. COMPOS'ITUM.) From belladonna leaves, 4 parts; moistened with tincture of opium (Ph. L.), 1 part; dried and made into 1 dr. cigarettes, as before.

Used as an anodyne and antispasmodic, in troublesome coughs, hooping-cough, toothache, sore throat, tic douloureux, &c.

=Cigars, Camphor= (Raspail, Paris). A remedy for various chest diseases, such as catarrh, hoa.r.s.eness, loss of voice, coughs, spasms, hooping-cough, phthisis; also, if the saliva be swallowed, for heartburn, pains in the stomach, and gastritis. They consist either of a straw or quill filled with broken camphor, or of a bone or horn mouthpiece, furnished at the outer end with a little capsule for the camphor. (Wittstein.)

=Cigars, Cam'phor.= _Syn._ CAMPHOR CIGARETTES; CIGARETT'ae CAMPHO'Rae, L.; CIGARETTES DE CAMPHRE, Fr. _Prep._ 1. Bibulous paper, moistened with 2 or 3 drops of essence of camphor, and rolled into cigarettes. For use they are loosely placed in a tubular cigar-holder.

2. (Raspail.) These are made by loosely filling a quill or large straw with small fragments of camphor, closing the open end with a little cotton wool or bibulous paper, and piercing the closed end with a pin, to allow the pa.s.sage of air.

_Obs._ Both the above are used unlighted by drawing the air through them into the mouth, which then becomes very slightly charged with the vapour of camphor. In cold weather the vaporisation is promoted by holding the cigarette for a few minutes in the warm hand. The h.o.m.opathists regard them as prophylactic of cholera, and the common people hold them to possess the same virtue in reference to contagious diseases generally, but especially typhus and scarlet fever. They should not be employed oftener than 3 or 4 times a day.

=Cigars, Hen'bane.= _Syn._ CIGARR'ae HYOSCY'AMI, L. From henbane leaves, as directed under BELLADONNA CIGARS.

=Cigars, Indian Hemp.= The plant is made into cigarettes, which are used in asthma. They must be used with caution.

=Cigars, Mercu"rial.= _Syn._ CIGARR'ae MERCURIA'LES, L. _Prep._ (Paul Bernard.) Ordinary cigars are deprived of their narcotic properties by soaking them in water, and are then wetted with a weak solution of corrosive sublimate, to which a little opium is generally added. The proportion may be, of corrosive sublimate, 1 gr.; rectified spirit, 20 drops; dissolve; add laudanum, 15 drops; with this solution 6 cigars are to be equally moistened to within about 1-1/2 inch of the mouth end, and then set aside to dry.

Used by persons afflicted with syphilitic affections of the throat and palate, as a convenient method of mercurial fumigation. For those accustomed to the use of tobacco, mild cigars, undeprived of their nicotine, may be employed for the purpose.

=Cigars, Scent'ed.= _Syn._ PERFU"MED CIGARS; CIGARR'ae AROMAT'ICae, L.

_Prep._ 1. By moistening ordinary cigars with a strong tincture of cascarilla, to which a little gum benzoin and storax may be added. Some persons add a small quant.i.ty of camphor, or of oil of cloves or ca.s.sia.

2. By soaking the tobacco, of which the cigars are to be made, or the cigars themselves, for a short time in a very strong infusion of cascarilla, and then allowing them to dry by a very gentle heat.

3. By simply inserting very small shreds of cascarilla bark between the leaves of the cigar or in small slits made for the purpose.

_Obs._ The above yield a very agreeable odour when smoked; but are said to intoxicate quicker than unprepared cigars of equal strength and quality.

They lose much of their fragrance by age.

=Cigars, Stramo"nium.= _Syn._ DATU'RA CIGARS; CIGARRae STRAMO"NII, L.

From the leaves of _Datura stramonium_, or preferably those of the eastern species, _Datura tatula_. See ASTHMA, DATURA.

=CINCHONA BARKS.= _Syn._ CINCHONae CORTEX; PERUVIAN BARK; JESUIT'S BARK.

The native names are _quinquino_ and _quina_, _quina_. Of the nearly forty different known species of cinchona trees, the barks of about a third are employed, some either directly in medicine, but by far the larger number as sources of quinine and the other cinchona alkaloids. The original habitat of the genus _Cinchona_ is the Andes, where it is found at a height of between 3000 and 12,000 feet above the sea, growing mostly in patches, distributed amongst the palms, plantains, and other tropical trees that form the vast forests, for the most part clothing the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras, and extending from 10 north to about 19 south lat.i.tude. In this district there is always an abundance of moisture and a mean temperature of about 62. In 1853 the Dutch government introduced the cinchona into Java, and in 1861 the East Indian government, following their example, introduced it into British India, where it is now acclimatised, large plantations of it growing on the Neilgherries and in the valleys of the Himalayas. The cinchona is now also successfully cultivated in Ceylon and Jamaica.