Is the cider Norman?
The history of cider is as murky as a bad bottle. Did the Normans invent cider? It would rather be the Basques, they say. And the Bretons in all this...
Is Norman cider of Basque origin?
Do the Basques therefore have nothing to do with Norman cider?
Not entirely. In the 16th century, we know that Norman lords grafted a few varieties of apple trees from Biscay, a Basque province, into their orchards.
If not Basque, is cider Breton?
Not better. Brittany only began to cover itself with apple trees in the 14th century, after Normandy.
Were the Normans then at the origin of cider?
I would be tempted to think that apple trees grew all over Europe. Each people, especially the Normans and the Basques, developed their own method of producing alcohol from apples.
When did cider become the drink of the Normans?
In the 12th century, mentions of cider multiplied, but they were concentrated in the Pays d'Auge, Bessin and the plain of Caen. Cider is therefore not yet the drink of the Normans. Wine and cervoise compete with it. Around 1450, cider seems to have imposed itself. At the same time, the arrival of beer, made from hops unlike cervoise, failed to challenge this predominance.
At the start of the 21st century, the golden age of cider is behind it...
Yes, today the consumption of wine (44 litres/French) and beer (20 litres/French) greatly exceeds that of cider (less than 2 litres), even in Normandy. But the fermented drink has not said its last word. Producers and traders are trying to give a more modern and noble image.
Cider is back in fashion.
