a term with two meanings. In N. America since Prohibition it refers to unfermented, unpasteurized, and usually unfiltered apple juice. After processing so as to resemble European apple juice, it is called ‘sweet apple juice’. Alcoholic cider is now described as ‘hard’ cider. Cider apples have never been grown in America, juice being pressed from general purpose orchard varieties. American cider is cloudy and replete with sediment, but in current market conditions looks as if it will be displaced by imports from China. In Britain, cider is an alcoholic drink, for which special cider apples are used; this has some limited uses in cookery and in making cider vinegar and verjuice. This kind of cider is also made elsewhere in Europe, notably in parts of France and Spain. Cider is the source of the distilled spirits applejack and Calvados.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
