Modern Cider: Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More

by Emma Christensen

A fresh, appealing guide to brewing hard cider that makes everything from sourcing fruits and juices to bottling the finished cider accessible and fun. 

Homebrew guru Emma Christensen presents accessible hard cider recipes with modern flavor profiles that make for perfect refreshments across the seasons. This lushly photographed cookbook features recipes for basic ciders, traditional ciders from around the world, cider cousins like perry, and innovative ideas that take ciders to the next level with beer-brewing techniques and alternative fruits. With Christensen's simple, friendly tone and 1-gallon and 5-gallon options, this book's fresh and fizzy recipes prove that cider-brewing is truly the easiest homebrewing project--much easier than brewing beer--with delicious, fruit-forward results! So whether you're a home cook trying your hand at a batch of simple Supermarket Cider or homemade Apple Cider Vinegar, a city dweller fresh from a day of apple picking in the countryside, or a homebrewer ready to move on to the next brewing frontier with Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider and Spiced Apple Shrub, Modern Cider is your guide.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Brewing, Food

192 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 2017

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an avid home brewer of wines and ciders, I was excited to read an ARC copy of this book through Net Galley. I am always looking for more recipes and for ideas to simplify the process. Unfortunately, this book was exactly the opposite of what I was looking for.

It turns out that "modern" is another way of saying, "full of chemicals and not traditional." It's true that this book does give you detailed instructions on how to make modern cider: It involves buying purchased juices (or a prohibitively expensive bunch of specific fresh apples -- the author reminds you that you need 20 pounds of apples for a gallon of cider), killing all wild yeasts and everything alive in them with sulfites (campden tablets), adding chemicals and additives to adjust flavors and tannin levels, using expensive equipment to ferment and transfer it all, testing specific gravity with a hydrometer, and then bottling with purchased bottles.

Yes, you can make cider that way, but it's expensive, unhealthy, and takes all the fun out of it.

The first time I made hard cider, it was following the instructions of a little self-published Kindle book that was free for a day: Making Hard Cider: Cheap, Easy and Safe Methods for DIY Home Production. It was simple, old school, and allowed us to make absolutely delicious hard cider (regular and high alcohol) with pounds and pounds of apples that we got free from foraging rural county parks and from people all over the county who had back yard apples that they were happy to give away. (Soapbox side rant: "Modern" generally means letting the food all around you and even in your own yard rot and then buying all your food in the supermarket, so we gather hundreds of pounds of apples and pears every year this way. We thank the owners of the trees with baked treats or applesauce, and everybody wins.)

When we first started making homemade ciders and wines, we used campden tablets and purchased yeast, but lately I've been more and more interested in healthier, cheaper, simpler and more interesting versions with the wild yeasts that are naturally on the fruits (and added sometimes through raisins and other fruits that you can add). I don't want to add sulfites and chemicals to my drinks. I don't want to use pasteurized juice grown thousands of miles away and shipped here. And I don't want to make hard cider with a process that ultimately costs me far more to make it myself than to buy it in the store.

I realize that I am not the intended reader of this book, but there were parts that were so frustrating for me as a forager and urban homesteader. The author says that a good cider requires a mix of types of apples and especially includes some high-tannin sorts of apples and pears that are not good for eating. This is why she adds various store-bought tannin additives. First of all, old school cider makers often wanted to adjust tannin levels too and would use things like black tea (which is naturally high in tannins). Secondly, all of those apples that folks like Johnny Appleseed planted all over the country were not planted for fresh eating (apple trees from seed will not taste like the parent and are always a crap shoot, so they rarely are the sweet apples we crave for snacks or baking) but for livestock feed and for making cider. There are apple and pear trees everywhere that have fruit that goes to waste because it's astringent and ugly looking, but it makes awesome cider. Even crab apples are great additions for this reason, and there are crab apple trees everywhere.

We have a pear tree that we pick in a nearby county park that is clearly part of an old homestead that's long gone. There's no sign of even a foundation anymore, but the land has apple trees, pear trees and even peonies and rhubarb growing among the native plants and they were all clearly planted there to enrich the lives of a family who lived there long ago. The pears taste awful fresh but are perfect for adding to cider (pear cider is called perry, incidentally). We call it "our" perry tree.

If you'd like a great book that does tell you how to make wines, ciders and perries the old school way (but with modern help), I highly recommend the book Wild Winemaking. It includes oodles of delicious recipes and full color photos, without all the added chemicals (I reviewed it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...#). You want modern? That book includes brews that include cannabis too. ;)

I feel bad about giving this book a low review but it's currently rated 4.5 stars and has plenty of people raving about it. It'll do just fine despite me, and should. Modern Cider is a great book for some people, just not for me.

I am hoping that "modern" begins to move back towards more natural and sustainable practices, and that modern home brewed cider can soon also mean foraging your own fruits, using the stuff in your own back yard and neighborhood, and relying less on chemicals and additives in everything we eat or drink.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a complete noob at home brewing. Don't know a single thing about it--all I know is that I love hard cider, and drink a lot of it. Emma Christensen does a fantastic job at explaining every aspect of hard cider brewing in the new book . Not only does she very eloquently discuss the beauty of brewing and drinking cider, but she also explains the process thoroughly, including: 1) how cider brews 2) tools needed to brew 3) exact step-by-step methods to successful brewing 4) a troubleshooting section, plus three pages of other brewing resources for the reader to explore 5) and of course, a glorious recipe section featuring simple brews, flavored brews, and other funky cider-based beverages (like apple wine?? yum????).

A well scripted brewing cookbook suitable for various experience levels, and perfect for the upcoming fall season! Out August 22nd.

[DelAnne Frazee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Modern Cider - Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More
Author: Emma Christensen
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 8-22-2017
Pages: 192
Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine
Sub-Genre: Drinks & Beverages, Cookbook, Beer, Fruits, Cooking By Ingredient, Alcoholic
ISBN: 9781607749684
ASIN: B01N69V33G
Reviewed For NetGalley and Ten Speed Press
Reviewer: DelAnne
Rating: 5 Stars


Complete, concise instructions on making and storing your own cider, wines and other fruity concoctions. It is always better homemade and considering I go through Apple Cider Vinegar like water it is one I tried first. It came out beautifully and I now have it in my recipe box and has become one of my favorite recipes. I can not wait for my own company of "Modern Cider - Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More" to arrive as there are many others I want to try.


My rating of "Modern Cider - Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More" is 5 out of 5 stars.


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[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Ten Speed Press for the chance to read and review this ARC;


I am pleased to say I was tickle pink the moment I saw this book. I have a deep love for cider drinking and I've been moving slowly (and cautiously) toward the idea of trying to brew my own. This a curiosity brought on by my brother's own beer and mead making prowess.

I was so pleased to see how the beginning of this book was laid out to help with such things. That it's gentle, and tells you how to pick your apples, why and which kind, and even talks about how not to go broke getting what you want. That there is an explicit guide to which kinds of apples what which characteristics, how to recognize them, what they brought to the cider party in means of taste, and what the common varietals of those were.

I have to give a great kudos to the writers that the first almost 40% of the book is just around how to go about making cider, everything from the beginning to the end, and all the questions you might have in-between. I was stellar-y blown away by their meticulous attention to detail, the way they made it clear enough even a beginner could understand, and left me with very few questions by the end of it.

Also, the end having a resource center and a dictionary of possibly lesser known words was amazing.

The recipes, of course, are to die for. They sounds breathtaking and I want to start trying several even now. I think I want to start with honey, or champagne, or bourbon varieties first, to wow and surprise my tasters. What about you? Where do you want to start, good reader/cider maker?

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in learning about cider and want to try making it, then this is the book for you. The author provides detailed information on every aspect of the process and a wide variety of recipes at different levels of complexity as well. She begins with information about apples and has a number of exercises to help the reader increase understanding of the different elements that affect the flavor and learn which you prefer. There are step-by-step instructions for fermenting and bottling, though there are a limited number of photos for that process. The photos that do exist are large and clear. There are beautiful photos throughout the book, as well as useful and clearly written information.

I received a digital copy through NetGalley.

[JosephCooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

The background and kitchen science in this is great. The images are amazing, and the recipes look simple and delicious. I have a huge gripe with the repetitiveness of the entire book. For what it's worth, once into the recipe section of the book, it becomes a "copy-paste" fiasco with the same seven paragraphs repeats dozens of times. That might have been intentional, but it looked an awful lot like filler in order to make the book look a little more robust. One set of directions and then 20 variations of the ingredients might have made better sense, but then again, not everyone thinks in the same way. It was good, and I'll hold onto it for recipes and inspiration, but it's not my favorite instructional piece out there.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a little more time-consuming than other cider making books I've read.

This guide is thorough though. There's information on selecting apples and different apple flavors. There's also information about pressing apples to make hard ciders, which isn't something I've done.

The recipes themselves are rather straight forward. They also require lots of tablets and additives I haven't seen in other recipes. There's lots of information in this book including "extra credit" to learn more about apples and making ciders. But overall it's more work than I was hoping for.

It's an interesting guide to browse.

[Dixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great addition to your collection if you are fond of niche food and beverage how-to books. It opens with a nice discussion on cider as the historical fermented beverage of choice in many cultures and moves on to the basic overview of the ingredients and methodology, then culminates with lots of recipes. It's got pretty photos throughout and is easy to follow.
I voluntarily read an advanced review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley. I offer my opinion in response.

[Polly Krize · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As the title states, these are simple recipes, but very imaginative, especially if you are unfamiliar with perries, cysts, shrubs, etc. as I was. Fresh fruit is a must here.

[Chris Dumont · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good, simple and straightforward book on making home-brewed cider (and apple wine), she also gives you a "how to" on making vinegar . There are some good recipes and techniques (like "dry hopping") to add interesting flavour variations . Well worth getting

[Heydi Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very pretty book and sort of like a sampler of things you could make. It wasn’t very in depth or varied. It pretty much delivered just what it said on the cover and nothing more.

[Leyla Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have a fairly large apple orchard which is solely heritage apples, including cider apples and perry pears. We get a huge crop each year and a few years ago our children gave us an apple crusher to make juice. We enjoy cider but have never had the confidence to make any.

This book solves that problem. Easy to read with very sensible and simple information on making our own cider. The photographs are spectacular, the information is written in a very friendly and knowledgeable way, this is wonderful book. To add to the simple farmhouse cider, there is information and recipes on beer cider, sparkling soft cider and other types of apple wines. I recommend this book highly for anyone has an interest in making cider or just reading about what cider is all about.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy making my own cordials, so finding this book was a boon for me! I want to learn to make parry (best drink ever!) and maybe ciders... If you enjoy brewing, or have an interest in learning hoe to brew other beverages, this is a great book to start with!

[Jennifer]

Truly interesting book but I didn’t expect the amount of work involved in making even a gallon. Not for beginners