Actually I looked up the real story of Johnny Appleseed and he was more about making hard cider and selling land. 🙃

  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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    2 days ago

    Probably not primarily booze, but vinegar. Prior to refrigeration and canning, food preservation was massively important. This meant salting, smoking or pickling. Apples that weren’t good for eating were important as a source for producing vinegar.

    • The_v@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It was for cider. They drank a staggering amount of beer, cider and rum on a daily basis in the early 1800’s. Cider consumption per capita in the was around 15 gallons/year. They drank even more beer and rum. They were also drinking around 5 gallons/year of distilled spirits.

      Most people were what we would classify as functional alcoholics today.

      • Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        It should be noted that a lot of the beer they drank was ‘small beer’ with 1-2% alcohol, which you’d have to really try to get drunk off of and was more of a nutritional source than anything. Liquid bread.

      • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        15 gallons per year comes out to about 6 pints per week. Not exactly staggering amounts, but combined with the spirits (and I’m sure they were drinking other stuff as well), it would definitely qualify for alcoholism today.

    • uienia@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Primarily for cider. Of which you can make vinegar, but that was not the primary reason. It was cider, which was the most popular drink in colonial/early US.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      If you know what brewing with apples and not having access to modern equipment, sanitation and yeast is like then I highly doubt they were in short supply of vinegar.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          No they are saying that it was intentionally made into vinegar as it’s primary purpose. That just simply isn’t true, it’s primary purpose was hard cider, vinegar was a byproduct of failed batches that few people would be in short supply of.

          • bastion@feddit.nl
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            1 day ago

            For alcohol, just deny it oxygen once it just gets going. You don’t have to prevent exposure to acetobacter.