On the beautiful East coast of Vancouver island, BC, tucked away in the rural hillside between Victoria and Sidney is a gem of an orchard called Sea Cider. Many thanks to my mother for scoping out some great spots to visit while on our mini road trip this past week. Thanks to her we found Sea Cider atop a hill overlooking their organic apple orchards and the beautiful blue water of the Haro Straight.
Thanks to Michael Pollans book The Botany of Desire, I know more than I ever thought I could know about apple cider, and apples in general. Originally the apples in North America were far too bitter to please the average palette, so they were used to make cider. Cider used to be the drink of the United States, more populer than beer, liquor, or wine. Most farms had an apple orchard and pressed the bitter fruit to make their elixirs.
There is a slight misconception about the famous historical figure we know as Johnny Appleseed.... He was a wild man who would plant his apple orchards just a little further west than civilization had traveled and then as the inevitable expansion took place he would sell his already yielding orchards to the new farmers for their cider making, and then set off westward and do it again. It wasn't until the religious groups who were unhappy with his image came along and rewrote the history books a little bit, making him out to be a friendly guy who wanted everyone's health to blossom from eating a sweet fruit. It took many years for the science of tree grafting to make a real success of the edible apples we are so accustomed to seeing in our local grocery stores today. These grocery store apples all come from tree grafting. If you plant an apple seed it will not necessarily produce the same kind of apple that it's parent was. In fact, multiple seeds from the same apple will likely be all different strains of apple. Who knew!?
I am grateful for Johnny Appleseed, as the many drunk farmers were, I'm sure, for cider is delicious! It can be simple and crisp, or complex and sweet, and everything in between. And to have a glimpse at one companies version of it all I recommend making the beautiful trip to Sea Cider.
We opted to try the cider flight, which allowed us to taste generous portions of each of their ten ciders. The food that accompanied our tasting was from the finest local artisans and farms. Farmhouse sharp cheddar, smoked Gouda, rhubarb chutney, and fresh baked breads were just some of the tasty treats we paired our array of ciders with.
We sat in solitude in the warm summer sun and sipped each new flavor as we read the simple tasting notes that accompanied. All their apples are grown on their property, and beautiful property is it! They have some 1300 apple trees, all organic and rare varieties.
While tasting our ciders and enjoying the hot sunshine on that beautiful piece of property we were continually deciding which ones we could take home with us. It was not easy to narrow it down, and we knew we must do that! In the end the friendly staff helped us package up our picks for enjoyment on a later date.
For information about Sea Cider and where you can purchase it you can go to their website: http://www.seacider.ca/
And by the way... I am in no way employed or persuaded by the staff of Sea Cider. My taste buds do the talking on this one! And as always: all photos are property of yours truly, Nicole Seymour.
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