Did you know that March is Women’s History Month? With the aim of “paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society,” according to the event’s website, it seemed appropriate to focus this month’s post on the contributions of women to the world of cidermaking. At Blue Bee Cider, women’s contributions are almost immediately apparent in that our founder and owner is female. This is also the case for several other Virginia and American cideries. While women have been pioneers in helping to re-establish the popularity of craft cider with the American drinker, our predecessors first established the industry’s matriarchal tradition in this country.
In her book, Every Home A Distillery, VCU professor Sarah Hand Meacham explores how the first colonists brought their cidermaking traditions with them in the 17th century when they first settled in the Chesapeake. In the swampy Tidewater, colonists were (rightly) skeptical of water quality and its tendency to carry disease. As such, their main source of hydration was alcohol, most often in the forms of cider or small ale (a lower-alcohol beer). They began the morning with a glass and continued with mugs during meals and breaks throughout the day. This was true not only of adults, but children as well. These beverages were sources of nutrition as well as a sort of early all-purpose solution. Writes Meacham, “Women not only consumed alcoholic drinks, but they also cleaned houses and babies with them and used them as beauty products.”
Cidermaking was considered a part of cooking, thus placing it firmly within the female domain. As Meacham quotes from an early text, “it is properly the work and care of the woman, for it is house-work, and done altogether within doors, where generally lies her charge.” Meacham also recounts that “women in small-planter households made cider just as they made cheese, candles, and other household supplies.” This was the practice for small-scale farmers not only in making fruit ciders, but also beer and other fermented beverages from ingredients like molasses. English and New World cookbooks and pamphlets instructed women in the production of alcoholic beverages, and recipes were valued property passed down through families from mother to daughter. Women, or Ale Wives, were often imported as brides specifically for their cidermaking and brewing skills to an area were women were in short, and needed, supply.
While alcohol production did eventually transition to a male-dominated practice with the rise of beer brewing and larger-scaled production, women were in charge for much longer in the Chesapeake than in New England and Europe. This is mainly due to the intensity of tobacco production which diverted masculine labor. Whereas in the other colonies and across the ocean, populations were more urban, able to access imports, and have the economic markets to support them, rural Tidewater residents lacked these amenities. Hops, a Dutch-introduced phenomenon, oats, and barley required significant investments of time, land, and labor, which the Chesapeake’s tobacco markets could not spare. Meanwhile, the tools needed for brewing, including bottles, were scant in the area and expensive to import to a spread-out, rural population. Limited imports to the Chesapeake due to such banes as cost, unreliability from spoilage and leakage, and shipwrecks only further emphasized the need for a steady household supply of alcohol.
While women were not economically independent or able to find any power or prestige through cidermaking, their role in its production and distribution was essential to the sustenance of their families and communities, creating a legacy for today’s women in the industry. Stay tuned for a future post about women’s necessity in the licensing and operation of taverns!
-Nicole Martorana
Note: Thanks to the Virginia Historical Society for sharing a leaf from their collection of recipe and housewifery publications.
