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[Richard Ruck]

West country has beautiful landscape and F-ing good cider.

Now you're talking! Only in the West Country do they seem to use the proper apples.

[Richard Ruck]

... and RR, and I have been unmercifully rude to the latter on the limerick thread whenever he seems to be getting too big for his boots (judging by his avatar, that is most always!).

You're rude in such a nice way, though, Dave! I'd call it a lively sense of humour, which most of us seem to share.

[jhopgood]

Now you're talking! Only in the West Country do they seem to use the proper apples.

Or should that be "apples properly"?

[Euterpe13]

Now you're talking! Only in the West Country do they seem to use the proper apples.

Or should that be "apples properly"?

both, actually ... I was raised on " scrumpy" - the real thing, not the crap they sell in supermarkets. I remember when I took my first husband to the Church Inn, Rattery and he had his first pint of the real stuff - the landlady wouldn't let him have a second when she found out he was a " virgin" - he started waffling about cider being for kids, and then suddenly said " I can't feel my legs from the knees down..."

BTW, pinching apples from orchards is known as " scrumping"...

[Mrs C.]

Now you're talking! Only in the West Country do they seem to use the proper apples.

Or should that be "apples properly"?

both, actually ... I was raised on " scrumpy" - the real thing, not the crap they sell in supermarkets. I remember when I took my first husband to the Church Inn, Rattery and he had his first pint of the real stuff - the landlady wouldn't let him have a second when she found out he was a " virgin" - he started waffling about cider being for kids, and then suddenly said " I can't feel my legs from the knees down..."

BTW, pinching apples from orchards is known as " scrumping"...

I know the place well!! We used to visit regularly -(if you mean the one near South Brent/Totnes) not for the cider, but for the treacle tart and clotted cream... the best I`ve ever had!!

[Euterpe13]

Or should that be "apples properly"?

both, actually ... I was raised on " scrumpy" - the real thing, not the crap they sell in supermarkets. I remember when I took my first husband to the Church Inn, Rattery and he had his first pint of the real stuff - the landlady wouldn't let him have a second when she found out he was a " virgin" - he started waffling about cider being for kids, and then suddenly said " I can't feel my legs from the knees down..."

BTW, pinching apples from orchards is known as " scrumping"...

I know the place well!! We used to visit regularly -(if you mean the one near South Brent/Totnes) not for the cider, but for the treacle tart and clotted cream... the best I`ve ever had!!

That's it - Church House Inn , one of the oldest pubs in England ( 1028 AD) - lovely place, real pub food, good beers and real locals. And you cant find it unless you know where you are going ( if you see what I mean!)

[UserRemovedAccount]

treacle tart and clotted cream

Good grief - treacle tart AND Devonshire clotted cream! Do you really mean on the same plate at the same time - on the same day even? Why didn't you really pile on the calories and pour some chocolate sauce over it, as well?

I am lost for words,

[DavebytheSea]

I thought the ONLY way to eat treacle tart was with great dollops of proper Cornish Clotted Cream - not the pale imitation they serve up apologetically across the Tamar. And, while we're at it, the only proper scrumpy is to be found here in the Duchy.

[Euterpe13]

Sorry, Dave, but as a devonian born & bred, I take exception - you may have tiddy oggies, but our scrumpy is second to none !

Try the product of Buckfastleigh Abbey, and see if I am wrong ...

[DavebytheSea]

Ah! but who makes the Buckfast scrumpy? Why the monks of course! .... and who Christianised the heathen Devonians? Why the Cornish saints and evangelists who alone kept the flame of Christianity burning when you Devonians meekly succumbed to the barbarian English. The art of cider making was, of course, carried across the Tamar when the heathen there were converted - indeed is it not the case that Buck the Bad (after whose conversion the abbey was named) was baptised in Cornish cider by none other than Saint Carumpus himself - the doyen of early Cornish cider makers?

[Richard Ruck]

And, while we're at it, the only proper scrumpy is to be found here in the Duchy.

That there's fightin' talk!

(Although, and to avoid another limerick being pointed in my direction , I'm sure it's very nice, and I would imagine that proper varieties of cider apples are used).

Found this on the Cornwall Tourist Information site :

There are a number of cider farms still working in Cornwall. Callestock Cider Farm, Penhallow, near Truro is a good example. They make and sell cider and scrumpy, and have an exhibition on how it is all done.

There were some fifty varities of cider apple grown in Cornwall, though that number is much fewer tioday. Cider apples are not like eating or cooking apples, they are smaller and are usually bitter sweet, or bitter sharp. They have wonderful rural names like Sweet Hoary Morning or Whimple Honeydrop.

Cider will be made from a blend of various apples. The fizzy commercial stuff is not a patch on the farm cider. If offered the choice, go for the vintage farm cider, and consume it soon after purchase. Keeping it in bottles does not help the enjoyment.

Some cider manufacturers have overcome the problems with customs and excise, and have started to produce cider brandy (calvados). Though they are now experiencing problems from some of the European countries who want the word brandy reserved for grape based spirits, and they cannot use calvados as that is a regional appellation in France.

Apart from drinking it in its natural state, I should remind you that cider can be used in cooking instead of wine. Any recipe that asks for wine can just as easily and tastily use cider of the required swetness/dryness.

Re. Cider Brandy - I've had the one made in Somerset and it's wonderful stuff. The apples used in the distillation seem to differ from the Normandy varieties used for Calvados, and there's a discernible 'farmyard' hint which makes it just slightly different. Try it if you can find it!

[Richard Ruck]

P.S. Somerset, of course, is the home of real cider..........!

[HowardH]

Puzzled ?
Didn't realise there was life to the west of the Tamar!

[DavebytheSea]

Well I always say that education is a life experience and not just for the young.

[Richard Ruck]

Well I always say that education is a life experience and not just for the young.

So, you'll be stopping off at a few Somerset farms next time you're driving through, then?