The World That Was - Iron Age Celtic Cider

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was!

Today, I'll be taking a look at some pre-Roman cider, from Gaul! As most of our records come from Roman sources, we don't get much insight beyond "The Gauls are so different to us Romans, they don't even drink wine! They just drink fermented grains and fruits like barbarians"

And while these are, inherently, totally biased records, they provide a decent look at what they drank! Since we know that apples were cultivated in this region, and has a history of cider production, we can assume that Gauls created archaic forms of cider - which I'll now attempt to do now!

In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like what I make, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

Ingredients

Enough apples for 2-3L apple juice
honey (to taste)
dried yeast

Special Utensils

Glass Demijohn/Terracotta pot
Siphon

DISCLAIMER
Before I begin, I have to reinforce that this is a recipe for an alcoholic beverage, so please don't make this if you're underage! Also, check your local laws on home-brewing alcohol - it's legal for personal consumption where I am, but it might be illegal wherever you are!

Method

1 - Peel and Press Apples

With that declaration out of the way, we need to prepare our apples. Do this by peeling and chopping them up into small pieces. Any kind of apple will work here, but older strains of apples would be sour - which coincidentally make for great cider!

We don't know exactly how Gauls in antiquity pressed the juice from the apples, it's possible they were mashed together, and then crushed through a thin cloth. This will allow you to extract most of the liquid from the pulp. Modern cider makers have a specialised press to do this, which is much easier than this method - but is unlikely to have been found in this time period.

I used a potato ricer, which provides an easy modern juice extraction!

2 - Combine Ingredients

When you've extracted about 2-3 litres of juice, go pour this into a glass demijohn. Or a terracotta pot. Whichever is easiest for you to use! Into this, pour a sachet of dried yeast - while this wasn't available in antiquity, it's a faster and more reliable way of getting the cider to ferment. Wild yeast would have been captured by the juice through contact with the air - but this is unpredictable, and may not result in a strong fermentation process.

Onto all of this, add a few dollops of honey to the mix. This is to sweeten the final mix a little, and even out the sourness of the apples. Adjust this based on how tart your apples are.

When everything is in, swirl it around, making sure everything is combined. Cover the top of your brewing container with a very damp cloth - or a brewing airlock if you have one - and leave the whole thing in a warm, dark place for a few days.

3 - Decant and Drink

The cider should have fermented enough within 6-7 days of sealing, so uncork it (if you've corked it) and smell that lovely apple goodness! Decant this using a siphon, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the pot. 

The finished drink is lovely and smooth, and has a very mild carbonation - thanks to the natural fermentation process. This batch was also quite strong and sweet, due to the honey.

While you can drink this as-is, heating a glass of this up slightly, and adding a spoonful of honey to it really improves the aroma, and cuts the sharpness a little.

All in all, a wonderful drink to keep you warm on an autumn day!

While much of this recipe was constructed from what we know about modern brewing processes, it's not unlikely to have been prepared in a similar way (excluding the use of a potato ricer and airlock) - the few time I've made this, every batch has come out remarkably similar. This is, in part, due to me using cultivated dry yeast, but is also a quick and simple way to make a potable alcoholic drink!