John Adams in defense of cider
and how refreshing and salubrious he found it, hard as it often was
If you drink cider with any enthusiasm, then you almost certainly know that US President John Adams also drank cider enthusiastically, and professed to consume a gill a day, before breakfast. (As a unit of measure, a gill is a quarter of a pint, or about four ounces.) Hard cider was John Adams’ orange juice, and in his day it was understood that a good quantity of cider, and the Vitamin C that it contained, would save you from scurvy the same as a lemon would.
President Adams’ great affection for cider comes through in several letters that he shared with his friend, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse of Harvard, back when Harvard was still just a college. As a Professor of Physic Dr. Waterhouse was a medical professional, which might explain why Adams’ correspondence with his friend is loaded with thoughts on health and well-being. The Atlantic published several of these letters in May of 1927.
Written between 1784 and 1812, the letters include several strong opinions related to cider (which Adams also refers to as cyder), and to which he clearly entrusts healthful properties, provided that one has the prudence to consume the drink liberally. Adams is distressed to learn that not everyone shares his conviction:
With Surprise and Grief I find by your Lecture that the Use of Cyder is become unfashionable at Colledge. The Apple is adapted to this Cliate as well as Limes, Lemmons and Oranges to the West Indies: and I fear the decay of Health at the University is owing the use of Wine and Spirits instead of Cyder, at least as much as to the consumption of Cigars. Rhenish or Mozelle Wine would be better for Us, than Sherry or Madeira: but Cider is better than either. Cyder a year or two years or three years old is all the Liquor I can drink without inconvenience to my health.
During the four years that I passed at Colledge there was not a Single death among the Scollars: and I have always believed that the almost universal health amongt he Students, was to be ascribed, next to early rising and beef and mutton Pies at Commons, to the free Use of Cider and the very moderate Use of Wine and ardent Spirits. When our Barrels and Bottles in the Cellar were empty, we used to Size it at the Buttery, and I never shall forget, how refreshing and Salubrious we found it, hard as it often was. I have heard of a hard Cyder Clubb which subsisted for many years, at Colledge though I never belonged to it, and have heard that the Members of it were remarkably healthy, not only while Undergraduates but in the after Course of their Lives.
We learn that John Adams liked his cider cellared at least twelve months, and often longer than that:
I have, habitually drank the Wines of Spain France Germany and holland in all their varieties diluted with Water and I have drank the mild Porter and Table Beer of London in all their perfection, but I never found any of them agree so well with my health as the Cyder of New England. It is true I Seldom drink it under a year old, and often two and sometimes three.
And Adams ends with this curious bit of poetry in which he seems to express both an affection for terroir and the ways and means of the locavore:
It seems to me, Sir that Nature has planted the Antidote near the Poison, and that a kind Providence has ordered the productions of the Earth to grow in a manner adapted to the Circumstances of the Clymate. And the Cranberries, Barberries, Currents and Cyder of New England are better adapted to the health of the Inhabitants than any other fruits.
