“The Domestic Manual or Family Directory containing Receipts in Arts, Trade, and Domestic Economy” was published in 1816 by New London printer Samuel Green. Today the American Antiquarian Society includes it in a bibliography of rare early American “cookery” books. It’s more of an all-purpose how-to book than a cookbook; it covers a wide range of topics like mending broken china, cleaning leather, whitening ivory, maintaining fences, creating dyes, and preserving meat. Quite a few pages are devoted to instructions for making cordials, wines, and cider, subjects dear to New England hearts.

A similar book, published in Norwich in 1795, is even more extensive; its index alone takes up a whopping 22 pages. My search on “wine” in a digitized copy resulted in 201 hits, including directions for turning white wine into red wine, and vice versa. (No recipes for turning water into wine, however.)

Americans liked their spirits, and considered them safer and more healthful than water. They consumed them at any time of day and in significant quantities. A visitor to Philadelphia in the mid-1700s was surprised to be served “cider and punch for lunch; port and brandy before dinner; punch, Madeira, port, and sherry at dinner; punch and liqueurs with the ladies; and wine, spirits, and punch until bedtime; all in punch bowls big enough for a goose to swim in.” This anecdote is from a book by Marvin Kitman, “George Washington’s Expense Account.” In commenting on Washington’s beverage purchases, the author contends that the general never drank more than one bottle of Madeira a day.

Cider was especially popular because apples were abundant and easy to grow. John Adams is said to have downed a tankard of hard cider daily before breakfast. Cider was even important enough to appear in wills. In Ledyard, the estate of Peter Lester included 98 barrels of cider, 44 of which were “old”; he stipulated that the cider was to be shared among all his children.

Because of the equipment required to produce cider and the fact that it’s a seasonal activity, having centralized mills designed for that purpose made sense. Around 1881, Benjamin Franklin Clyde decided he’d start his own cider business. For a time, he pressed his apples at other mills, but by 1889, he was able to build his own mill on North Stonington Road in Old Mystic.

B.F. Clyde’s, still family owned and operated, is the oldest steam powered cider mill in America. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers recognized it as a landmark in 1994. Their brochure describes how the apple elevator, screw press, steam boiler, steam engine, grater, and pump all work together to make that delicious autumn beverage.

When I was a kid growing up in Old Mystic, my parents had some adventures in winemaking, but, as far as I know, they never made cider. Their specialty was dandelion wine, although they made rhubarb and tomato wine too. The rhubarb was good, but the tomato wine was acidic and packed a punch that could paralyze your eyeballs. Dad, a West Virginia native, liked to tell guests that they were drinking genuine hillbilly moonshine. Visitors always firmly refused refills.

Mom and Dad’s dandelion wine recipe called for oranges, lemons, raisins, yeast, sugar, water, and quantities of yellow blossoms. I was the designated picker. The process required straining, stirring, and a great deal of patience. One year my folks made the mistake of sealing the bottles before fermentation was complete. I thought corks popping and bottles exploding all over the cellar was highly entertaining. They were less amused.

Mom and Dad were wise not to attempt cider. Why would they with an historic mill just down the road?