Cider is a beverage made from the juice pressed out of apples. There are two kinds of cider—hard cider and sweet cider. Hard cider is an alcoholic drink. Most hard ciders contain 5 to 7 percent alcohol. Sweet cider is nonalcoholic apple juice. Similar drinks are made from such fruits as pears and peaches and may also be called cider.
Sweet apple cider is produced by grinding apples and squeezing out the juice with mechanical presses. To make hard cider, the juice is stored and allowed to ferment. In this process, yeasts convert sugar in the juice to alcohol. To prevent spoiling, manufacturers pasteurize some hard cider and all sweet cider and sometimes add chemical preservatives. Hard cider may be made into cider vinegar by allowing bacteria to convert the alcohol to acetic acid. This acid gives the vinegar its sour taste. See Vinegar .
