What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice?

Apple cider & Apple juice

@bvdshec17: Fast fingers. :)

I would just like to add mulled cider will kick juice’s ass any day.

In most of the world, cider is fermented (alcoholic) apple juice. In the US, we say there’s a difference between that stuff, and call it hard cider, while unfiltered apple juice that we heat and put spices and whatnot in is simply called cider or soft cider. Apple juice is when it’s filtered and pasteurized and all that stuff. And apple juice that has been sitting around for way too long is apple vinegar.

In the words of Ned Flanders: If it’s clear and yella’, you’ve got juice there, fella! If it’s tangy and brown, you’re in cider town.

I’ve heard, from someone who was a Katrina refugee, that what people call “cider” in the South and that which Northerners call “cider” is very different. Here in Michigan (an apple growing region), cider is pressed from the apples and has a bit of ferment beginning, but is not alcoholic – yet. It’s just sweet (but not too sweet), deeply apple-y flavored, and delicious.

Katrina-friend said that what they called cider was more like our apple juice – light colored, kind of bland, and nothing special. In fact, she didn’t know the difference between the two, either, until she came up here and tasted what all the fuss was about.

Cider can go “hard” and become alcoholic. (Apple juice is pasteurized and generally doesn’t harden unless you introduce some yeast into it again.) Once it’s alcoholic, it can change again, into apple cider vinegar (just like any alcohol, gone bad, is vinegar).

Here in upstate New York, also an apple-producing area, apple juice is the filtered, pasteurized juice of one strain of apple, whereas apple cider is a mixture of flavors blended by the orchardist from different strains of apple for distinct flavor, and then freshly pressed. It is raw, so that it can and will ferment, but it is sold fresh.

In America, apple juice and apple cider are different cider is unfiltered, it is a darker amber color and a bit cloudy. Apple juice is filtered and lighter in color.Some manufacturers claim that the types of apple vary, or at what time of the season the apple is processed, resulting in a less sweet, more acidic, tangier taste in cider. What’s labeled “apple juice” has been processed to remove the remnants of apple and pasteurized for a longer shelf life. Hot cider is a popular treat in the fall where cider is mixed with seasonings like cloves and cinnamon and mulled.

In England and Australia, apple juice is fresh juice, and apple cider is fermented, alcoholic apple juice.

Some apple ciders are carbonated to give it more of a kick.
Apple cider is hot and warms you up and a regular apple juice just is cold

Quoted from:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_apple_juice_and_apple_cider