The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), better known as the Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602 and head-quartered in the Oost-Indisch Huis (East-India House) in downtown Amsterdam as an official colonial agency. The company was given massive financial backing and the legal power to wage war, create overseas settlements, and uphold its own jurisprudence. For over 200 years the company represented Dutch interests in Asia and dominated European trade. The company’s influence was unrivalled for most of its lifespan, eclipsing the ventures of its British and Portuguese competitors.  This allowed the Dutch East India Company to use an aggressive economic policy to sabotage its rivals, creating an intra-Asia trade system that allowed them to purchase and sell precious metals at a significantly reduced rate. At its peak, the VOC was worth, roughly, the same amount as the GDPs of modern Japan and Germany added together. The company also employed 70,000 people across the globe making it one of the world’s first multinational corporations.

The source of this tremendous wealth was the Maluku islands in Indonesia.  From these islands come nutmeg and cloves two of the most prized spices in the 18th Century.  The Dutch East India Company also had holding eastern India (Calcutta) where they traded in curry and cardamom.  Add to this the soon to be traded way apple orchards in North America and you have the perfect set of ingredients for a fine cider:

Ingredients:

  • 5 gallons apple juice (11% sugar)
  • 5 lbs sugar
  • 1 oz cardamom pods
  • 1 oz whole cloves
  • ¼ tstp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ cup black tea
  • 1 gallon boiling water
  • Ale yeast

Place tea in boiling water and allow to steep for at least 15 min.  Add sugar and still until fully dissolved.  Pour apple juice directly into fermenter then add hot tea/sugar mixture.  Stir in spices and allow to cool for 30 min before adding yeast.  Ferment for 2 weeks at room temperature then rack to secondary (leaving tea and spices with strobe) then continue fermentation for an additional 10 days before bottling.

Perhaps if the Dutch had this cider they might have wanted to hang onto Manhattan a little longer…

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Published by Michael Carver

My goal is to bring history alive through interactive portrayal of ordinary American life in the late 18th Century (1750—1799) My persona are: Journeyman Brewer; Cordwainer (leather tradesman but not cobbler), Statesman and Orator; Chandler (candle and soap maker); Gentleman Scientist; and, Soldier in either the British Regular Army, the Centennial Army, or one of the various Militia. Let me help you experience history 1st hand!