Upcoming Cider Demo and Talk at Pottsgrove Manor

On Saturday, May 7th, I’ll be at Pottsgrove Manor’s May Fair (Pottstown, PA) talking about 18th-century cider, offering some free samples, and presenting my illustrated talk, “Cider: Pennsylvania’s Once (and Future?) Favorite” at 3 pm. The event runs from 11 am to 5 pm.

For more information check out https://www.montcopa.org/1421/Annual-Colonial-May-Fair

Hope to see you there!

An 1817 Receipt for Making Cider – by Mark A. Turdo

Just in time for the 1817 cidermaking season, James Grant, of Dover, New York, received a letter from Andrew Race. Race began his brief note picking up where their conversation had evidently ended. Saying he got home safely, offering news of two horses in an upcoming race, and promising to let Grant know the outcome, Race went on to share a “Receipt for Making Cider.”

It is unclear if the instructions are Race’s work. No matches turned up in an online search, but it certainly reads like advice he picked up from a printed source and copied by hand for his friend.

Besides the instruction’s origin, Race’s identity is also a bit of a mystery. The red stamp on the cover and his dateline shows he wrote it in New York City. So far no New York-area Andrew Race has been fittingly identified as the author of this note.

_{Cover and address for Race’s letter to Grant.}

If Race remains a stranger, his note feels familiar. That’s because this is how cidermaking information was shared in early America. It was often sprinkled in letters amongst the racing news, local gossip, and business offers. And like other early cidermaking instructions, Race’s assumed a solid cidermaking foundation on the part of the reader. For instance, Race doesn’t mention what kind of apples to use or how to grind or press. Instead, he focuses on details he feels are underappreciated or unobserved, including letting the pomace oxygenate overnight and keeping the equipment and vessels as clean and sanitized as possible. He wrote

_{Museum of the American Revolution (2018.13.068)}

TRANSCRIPTION¹

Sir I got home in six days after I left your house without any bad luck to my self or Horse Mr Hunt has two of sir salmans Colts in [thrain] they are to Run next wednesday and as soon as the Race is over I will write the Perticulars two your [olds]

Receipt for Making Cider

Gather the apples neat and Clean in good weather then put them under Cover Exposed to Air as much as Convenient pick them over Immediately before Grinding – Let the Mill and Every thing about it be perfectly Clean put the pumise in a large Vat expose it to Air and stir it ofen if the weather is not hot let the Cheese stand on the Press over night Let the Casks be perfectly Clean put the Cider in Open headed Casks and when the froth begins to apear Through Cracks of the pumise draw it off into other Clean Casks putting about Eight pailsfull at first into a Cask then take a Brimstone Cloth match 2 Inches wide and 14 in. long suspend it in the Cask until it burns out then shake the Cask till it absorbs the smoke fill the Cask stop it tight and put it by in a good Cellar taking Care to draw the vent Occationly that the Cask may not burst when perfectly Clean rack it off into other Clean Casks

Andrew Race

New York September 25th 1817

We’re left to wonder if Grant put any of Race’s suggestions into practice? If he did, did he reply to let Race know what worked and what didn’t or did he wait until they saw each other again? Either way, they probably picked up their conversation right where they left off.

*************************

1. The original spelling, punctuation, and grammar have been left intact. Some words are not clearly decipherable. When that is the case they are surrounded with [ ].