What is the differance between apple cider, and apple juice? As far as I can tell, they are both the juice of the apple, and they’re both pasteurized.
Is there something in the processing that makes them different? Why do I have a recipe that calls for both?
The Master weighs in:
Dammit! I did a search too.
So why would a recipe call for both? Down here (TX) I can’t find good old unpasteurized cider, so I bought the stuff that looks like juice.
Cecil’s column is actually not very helpful, IMHO. The real difference is that cider contains pectin, but in juice, the pectin has been broken down by the enzyme pectinase. See this recent thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=43016
It is only this year that the law required pastuerization of apple cider. Apparently there were enough cases of coli infection that screams of “think of the children !” were heard in washington. Consequently if you like your cider a bit on the bubbly side it is now necessary to innoculate it with yeast at home.