We reckon cider is fantastic with food, and here’s why!
Cider can enhance any meal with its low alcohol and crisp carbonation, preparing your palate for the next bite.
Its natural fruitiness pairs excellently with everything from pork belly to a Caesar salad. When matching cider with food we want to combine food and drink that are in harmony with one another.
You can pair flavours, such as cider with a fresh fruit salad, or a beetroot & apple dish. You can pair intensity, so a rich full bodied cider with a long finish can stand up to a game stew.
Even the flavours of a light fish dish can be enhanced by the salinity and minerals of a dry, structured cider.
There are two main ways of going about pairing your food and drink:
Pick a drink with characteristics that contrast the flavours in your food or pick a drink that offers continuity with the food, complementing similar characteristics.
Your pairing choices can be a combination of both, what you’re trying to achieve is a pairing that enhances the flavours of both your dish and you drink.
Characteristics to consider when food pairing:
Sweetness: Lots of foods contain sweetness not just your dessert so always consider this when pairing drinks. Slightly sweeter drinks can be friendly to more spiced dishes, they enhance the spices and can counteract some of the heat. Our Medium cider would be similar to an off-dry Riesling in sweetness levels so it’s a lovely match with many curries and Thai dishes for example.
Acidity: Acidity is the level of tartness in your drink. It can contrast richness in your food. Fat can coat your tongue, but acidity can cleanse it and refresh your mouth. The crisp acidity of cider means it cleanses your palate and refreshes you, which can have a mouth-watering effect enhancing the flavours of a dish. Our Dry cider will do this with a creamy chicken and ham pie or a succulent sausage from the BBQ.
Body: Try to match the intensity of the flavours in your dish and in your cider. A rich venison stew for example with the Traditional Dry, but a Medium cider with some smoked salmon- delish!!
Alcohol levels: If your food is light & delicate, consider choosing a lower-alcohol drink to balance it. Alcohol can increase “hotness” levels in your mouth, but cider could be a fantastic alternative to wine for your spicy Indian curry.
Finish: This is the lovely lingering taste you get after you’ve tasted our Traditional Dry cider and it goes a long way with helping to enhance food. This long dry finish gives good structure to match with meatier dishes like pork belly.
Tannin: These cause the mouth-drying effect you might associate with some red wines, and with tea. You might consider it bitterness but tannins again give structure to our Traditional Dry Cider and allow for even more food pairing options.
Food and drink combos are a fun way to taste more and get more out of what you’re eating and drinking but everything is own to personal taste of course. Trial and error is all part of it. If you find something delish, let us know what works with our ciders.
Email me at sarah@macivors.com
