To afford perry in the greatest perfection,
the pear must be in a certain state of maturity :
it should be ripe without being either mellow
or decajdng. The produce of the same tree
ripens very irregularly; the j^lanter must
therefore have a considerable number of each
kind he plants, or he ^^•ill rarely have a suffi-
cient quantity of fruit ready to be ground at
the same time. Even when the pears have
fallen spontaneously from the trees, a fourth at
least of some kinds will be found immature or
decajdng, and quite unfit for making fine perrj'.
These ought to be separated from the rest ;
though they rarely or never are.
To speak now of the apples required for
cider : no juice can be depended on for making
a good liquor that does not possess at the same
time body and flavour ; the former depends on
the juice contained in the pulp or flesh of the
fruit, and the latter on the juice contained in
the external skin or peel, and in the seeds or
pips. The most agreeable ajiples to the palate
are those which abound in a juice at once sweet
and acidulous, whereas those which suit best
for cider have the juice both sweet and acerb,
with little mixture of acid. Hence the best
fruits for cider manufacture, with few excep-
tions, are too astringent to be in demand for
table use.
Perry and cider are obtained from their
respective fruits pretty much in the same way.
To describe the process of making the one, will
enable the reader to understand how to make
the other. We shall describe, then, the manu-
facture of cider, that being decidedly the most
popular liquor.
" Cider is manufactured," says a writer in the
English Cyclopcedia, " with very rude machinery,
by the following process: — The apples are
thrown into a circular stone trough, usually
about eighteen feet in diameter, called the
chase, roimd which the runner, a heavy circular
stone, is turned by one or sometimes two horses.
When the fruit has been ground until the rind
and the core are so completely reduced that a
handful of ' must,' when squeezed, will all pass
without lumps between the fingers, and the
maker sees from the white spots that are in it
that the pips have been broken, a square horse-
hair cloth is spread under a screw-press ; and
some of the must is poured with pails upon the
hair, the edges and corners of which are folded
inwards so as to prevent its escape. Ten or
twelve of these hairs are piled and fiUed one
upon the other, and then siu-mounted with a
frame of thick boards. [This is the process in
Hereford district. In Devonshire a lever press
is used, and ' reed," unthrashed straw, is placed
in layers in the place of hairs. The method
used in the South of France for expressing oil
from olives is identically the same]. Upon tb'*
PER
( 538 )
PER
the screw is slowly worked down by a lever ;
and with the pressui-e, a thick brown juice
exudes from the hairs, lea^^ng within them
only a dry residue, which, in years when apples
are scarce, is sometimes mixed with water,
ground again, and the liquid pressed out as
before. This latter product is called ' water
cider,' a thin unpalatable liquor, which is given
to the labourers early in the year.
Page 1150
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
To afford perry in the greatest perfection, the pear must be in a certain state of maturity : it should be ripe without being either mellow or decaying. The produce of the same tree ripens very irregularly; the planter must therefore have a considerable number of each kind he plants, or he will rarely have a sufficient quantity of fruit ready to be ground at the same time. Even when the pears have fallen spontaneously from the trees, a fourth at least of some kinds will be found immature or decaying, and quite unfit for making fine perry. These ought to be separated from the rest ; though they rarely or never are.
To speak now of the apples required for cider : no juice can be depended on for making a good liquor that does not possess at the same time body and flavour ; the former depends on the juice contained in the pulp or flesh of the fruit, and the latter on the juice contained in the external skin or peel, and in the seeds or pips. The most agreeable apples to the palate are those which abound in a juice at once sweet and acidulous, whereas those which suit best for cider have the juice both sweet and acerb, with little mixture of acid. Hence the best fruits for cider manufacture, with few exceptions, are too astringent to be in demand for table use.
Perry and cider are obtained from their respective fruits pretty much in the same way. To describe the process of making the one, will enable the reader to understand how to make the other. We shall describe, then, the manufacture of cider, that being decidedly the most popular liquor.
" Cider is manufactured," says a writer in the English Cyclopcedia, " with very rude machinery, by the following process: — The apples are thrown into a circular stone trough, usually about eighteen feet in diameter, called the chase, round which the runner, a heavy circular stone, is turned by one or sometimes two horses. When the fruit has been ground until the rind and the core are so completely reduced that a handful of ' must,' when squeezed, will all pass without lumps between the fingers, and the maker sees from the white spots that are in it that the pips have been broken, a square horsehair cloth is spread under a screw-press ; and some of the must is poured with pails upon the hair, the edges and corners of which are folded inwards so as to prevent its escape. Ten or twelve of these hairs are piled and filled one upon the other, and then siu-mounted with a frame of thick boards. [illustration: This is the process in Hereford district. In Devonshire a lever press is used, and 'reed,' unthrashed straw, is placed in layers in the place of hairs. The method used in the South of France for expressing oil from olives is identically the same]. Upon the
PER
( 538 )
PER
the screw is slowly worked down by a lever ; and with the pressure, a thick brown juice exudes from the hairs, leaving within them only a dry residue, which, in years when apples are scarce, is sometimes mixed with water, ground again, and the liquid pressed out as before. This latter product is called ' water cider,' a thin unpalatable liquor, which is given to the labourers early in the year.