Apple cider is the name for a non-alcoholic beverage produced from apples by a process of pressing, especially in the United States and parts of Canada. It is more sour and cloudy than conventional apple juice, retaining the tart flavor of the apple pulp which is lost in conventional fruit juice production.
Cider is mostly thought to be best in late autumn, corresponding with the harvest season, and is a popular traditional beverage on Halloween and Thanksgiving, heated if the weather is especially cold.
Production
In the United States, well over 12,000,000 gallons of apple cider are pressed each year. Apple cider was (like other forms of cider were) traditionally fermented, but that alcoholic apple drink is now referred to in the United States as hard cider. Today in the US (and Canada to some extent), apple cider is a nonalcoholic beverage; a subcategory of apple juice traditionally made from early-harvest apples which have a lower sugar content and are more acidic, thus cider has a more tart, tangy taste than apple juice. It is generally (though not always) unfiltered, giving it a somewhat cloudier appearance from suspended solids.
Apple cider is occasionally sold unpasteurized -- generally on-site at small orchards. Many feel that the unprocessed version has much better flavor, but because of the slight chance of contamination by salmonella or E. coli, most apple cider is pasteurized before distribution.
Variations
Apple ciders are often made from blends of several different apples to give a balanced taste. There is some local competitiveness among cider mills in apple country for the highest quality blends, and makers keep their formulas secret. One trick used to add interest to a cider blend is the addition of a percentage of crabapples. Cider doughnuts are often sold at cider mills and contain cider in the batter. Visiting apple orchards in the fall for cider, doughnuts and you-pick apples is a large segment in U.S. agritourism.
Hot apple cider or mulled cider (also known as "Wassail") is a popular fall (autumn) and winter beverage, consisting of apple cider, heated to a temperature just below boiling, with cinnamon, orange peel, nutmeg, cloves, or other spices added.
Another cider available in the US and Canada is sparkling cider, a carbonated nonalcoholic beverage made from filtered apple cider. A common brand of sparkling cider is Martinelli's.
American definition
In the United States, the distinction between apple juice and cider is not legally well established, but cider is usually understood in common usage to be cloudier, unfiltered and less processed. Nevertheless, some large U.S. corporations continue to market the same clear, filtered, processed, and pasteurized apple juice as "apple cider".