Wild or Spontaneous Fermentation is the traditional method of making cider. Apples and pears are covered with wild yeasts, and some yeasts actually live inside the fruit, so any fresh or lightly-pasteurized apple or pear juice will naturally ferment. Wild fermentation may proceed very slowly over several months.

Pressing and fermenting fresh apple juice was the easiest way to preserve the large fruit harvest. In rural communities, taxes, wages and tithes were often paid in cider. It was also the basis for other products, such as vinegar, which was used to preserve fresh foods and for other purposes around the farm.

Besides no longer using archaic fermentation tools, there are no real differences! In traditional cider making, apples were grown by grafting branches from existing apple trees. After harvest, many apples were pressed into cider and the rest were filled into barrels and kept for the winter to replenish the supply.