The Forgotten Cider Drink That Took Over The 1893 World's Fair

When we think of everything there is to know about cider, one thing that doesn't spring to mind is oranges. Cider is most often made from apples — and there's also perry, an English pear cider. And while other fruits might pop up in small proportions for flavor twists, we don't tend to see orange cider. That's something that separates us from the attendees of the 1893 World's Fair.

Visitors flocked to this global exposition featuring advances in industry, science, culture, and more — and they got hot, especially in peak summer. Huelsenkamp, a beverage producer from Florida, was there to help with a drink that celebrated its home state's agricultural claim to fame: oranges. Subsequently, orange cider became a smash hit during the fair's six-month run.

Huelsenkamp didn't invent orange cider, as a similar drink that tended to be made with booze predated this World's Fair debut — it's thought that alcoholic addition is where the "cider" part of the name comes from, since this beverage is not made from fermented pressed orange pulp as apple cider is made with apples. Temperance was all the rage in 1893, though, and businesses and customers alike were looking for alcohol-free options, priming Huelsenkamp's booze-free update. Sweet yet tart with all of its citrus goodness, orange cider became a favorite of the fair's 27 million attendees. The popularity grew so intense that other vendors decided to make and sell the stuff, too, helping it become the beverage most associated with the event.

We have several different World's Fairs to thank for food and beverage staples that we still love today. A tea grower and seller got a cool idea at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, introducing iced tea and starting a run that's still successful today. Ice cream cones also took off at that same World's Fair, and Belgian waffles became a better-known treat at New York's fair in 1964. At the same 1893 World's Fair in Chicago that saw orange cider fervor take hold, Juicy Fruit gum and Vienna Beef kicked off their long lives too. So why are we still drinking iced tea and eating ice cream cones while orange cider is a forgotten relic?

Unfortunately, orange cider became a victim of its own success. Many of those vendors who decided to start selling orange cider, too, just threw together ingredients to emulate flavors on the cheap; forget something like fresh pressed orange juice made with real Floridian oranges. The orange cider of the World's Fair became closer to a mix of sugar and food coloring. A common recipe was later printed in an 1899 book: water, simple syrup, orange extract, citric acid, and colored sugar — some sellers even just threw together things like apple cider vinegar and molasses. While vendors from Florida argued that their cider was made with actual oranges, the drink's reputation was beyond soured by these knock-offs. Orange cider only lived on in infamy, never popularity again, until it was nearly altogether forgotten.