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"APPLE SASS"
i8r
Other quaffers. It is the " malic acid " in the
liquor which is so inimical to these diseases ; and
as a cider-drinker of considerable experience, and
a sad sufferer, at times, from both diseases, I can
safely say that there is no " touch " of either in
the "natural" Norfolk cider made by Messrs.
Gaymer—a drywinewhich is very palatable, and
is one of the best and the most wholesome of
beverages.
Cider at its strongest does not contain a large
percentage of alcohol, and its makers contend
that its qualities are more health-giving and far
less heady than those of any other liquor con
sumed in England. According to Mr. Radcliffe
Cooke, an enthusiast on the subject, the revival
in the cider industry dates from 1890, and there
is every hope that that industry will flourish more
and more, through the centuries. The recog
nized cider fruit may be divided into "bitter-
sweets"—such as the so-called Norman apples
and the Wildings—and the " red " fruits, such as
the nearly extinct " Red Streak." The best
cider is made from an admixture of the two sorts.
But the gout-fuge cider, we gather from another
writer, should be made from a single sort
of apple.
" There is no difficulty," writes Mr. Cooke,
" in expressing the apple juice ; but the fermenta
tion process is not sufficiently studied, and it is
here that failure commonly occurs."
" As for the making of Perry and Cider,"
writes an authority of the seventeenth century,
" which are drinkes much used in the West parts,
and other countries well stored with fruit in this