It might sound weird to talk about cider in India, but this 2,000-year-old traditional drink has recently enter the country market.
“In recent years, there has been a renaissance of interest in cider drinking, both in America and Europe, so India could not have reamained untouched for long”, cider manufacturer Dinesh Gupta, who launched Tempest recently said.
Tempest cidery is located in famous Shimla hills, a part of the richest apple producing belt of Himachal Pradesh. The natural taste and aroma of apple is retained in the cider because the climate favours the cultivation.
They use natural spring water and Della-Toffola’s machinery for the entire filtering process. In order to retain the unique flavour of fresh apples the product is unpasteurised.
Bhai, whose literal translation from Hindi is “brother” has a broader meaning that expresses friendship and respect. And the project is the story of two friends, which reflects a shared heritage: India, with its apple orchads nestled in the foothills of Himalaya, and England, with its rich cider making history and love for Indian spicy foods. The result is a product which offers a refreshing palate and marries beautifully with spice.
But this story is about much more than cider. The friends’ long term ambition is to build a global brand to invest in orchading in some of the poorest parts of India.
Himachal Cider uses pure Himalayan mountain water and the finest, internationally renowned apples grown in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, to create an authentic medium cider with a distinctively fruity and lightly sparkling style.
They offer a hand-crafted product on a small scale which is distributed mainly in restaurants and bars in the Yorkshire and Lancashire area, but is being increasingly available across UK.
Puede resultar extraño hablar sobre sidra en la India, pero esta tradicional bebida desde hace 2.000 años acaba de entrar en el mercado del país.
“En los últimos años, ha habido un renacimiento del interés en el consumo de sidra, tanto en América como en Europa, algo a lo que India no podía permanecer ajena por mucho tiempo”, ha dicho recientemente el productor de sidra Tempest, Dinesh Gupta.
El lagar Tempest está situado en las famosas colinas Shimla, parte de la mayor zona productora de manzana de Himachal Pradesh. El sabor y aroma natural de la manzana se mantiene en la sidra porque el clima favorece su cultivo.Utilizan agua natural de manantial y maquinaria Della-Toffola para todo el proceso de filtrado. Con el fin de retener el sabor único de las manzanas recién cogidas el producto no se pasteuriza.
Bhai, cuya traducción literal del hindi es “hermano” tiene un significado más amplio que expresa amistad y respeto. Y el proyecto es la historia de dos amigos, que refleja un patrimonio compartido: India, con sus pomaradas enclavadas en las laderas del Himalaya, e Inglaterra, con su rica tradición sidrera y amor por la comida especiada. El resultado es un producto que ofrece un paladar refrescante y marida perfectamente con las especias.
Pero esta historia es sobre mucho más que la sidra. La ambición a largo plazo de los amigos es construir una marca global para invertir en algunas de las zonas más pobres de la India.
La sidra Himachal usa agua pura de las montañas del Himalaya y las mejores, internacionalmente famosas manzanas que crecen en el estado indio de Himachal Pradesh, para crear una auténtica sidra de tipo afrutado y ligeramente espumosa.
Ofrecen un producto artesanal a pequeña escala que se distribuye principalmente en bares y restaurantes del área de Yorkshire y Lancashire, pero cada vez más disponible en todo Reino Unido.
Cider has entered many countries and it’s actually a good thing.
Well… I can find a decent cider here in my country (not India), but it’s so hard to find one that is traditionally made.
My father made some good cider years ago, but now he does no longer drink alcohol, and I’m too lazy to try wasting some apples. 🙂
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Could I ask you where you are from? Romania, maybe?
I know cider is produced in almost every country. In fact, there’s an annual cider meeting in my town attended by cidermakers from all over the world!! 😊
It’s a pity you don’t follow your family’s tradition… 😪
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Yes, I am from Romania and here I stay 🙂
Cider here is not an usual drink, but it has many local names. Some of them are borrowed from our neighbours (sicheră -from Greek; livej -from Hungarian); but there are also Latin inherited words like ”must” (it usually means fresh grape juice, but also cider), or ”mursă” (it usually means ”mead”), or simply ”vin de mere” (apple wine) or ”vin de poame” (fruit wine).
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Sidra, in our country, derives from the Greek «sikera» and Latin «zythos». Mosto («must») is red or white grape juice for us.
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The Romanian words I mentioned for ”cider” are quite unknown to Romanians nowadays. I found them only in dictionaries and some remote areas. Most, if not all of traditional cider making is lost here.
The usual word for cider is ”cidru”, borrowed from French. There are very few people who know an older name for the drink.
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Cidru-cidre… makes sense! Can you tell me any Romanian cider brands, please?
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In the supermarket here 🙂 I can find «Clarks» (produced by a Scotsman, but in Romania), and «Dacic» (hm… «Dacic Meșteșugar” is okay; ”meșteșugar” means craftsman or artisan, ”Dacic” means ”of Dacia”; the Dacians were our indigenous ancestors).
I only heard about ”Sichera de Hidișel”; traditionally made. Never tried it.
I found an article about Romanian cider, but it is written in Romanian: https://mihaiandreialdea.org/2017/11/01/sichera-vinul-de-fructe-sau-cidrul-o-bautura-a-strabunilor/
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Wow, great info!! Thanks a lot! 😊
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I’ve found this article:
https://www.inyourpocket.com/bucharest/romanian-beer_74812f
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I forgot about ”Livada secretă” (= ”the secret orchard”).
Long time no see. It had a fox on the label 🙂
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And it’s actually a Heineken brand. Not at all local 🙂
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Lol!! Same as Apple Bandit!! 😬
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What else to say … 🙂
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