# BONUS EPISODE: Natural Cider with Tom and Lydia of Artistraw Cider Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931/bonus-episode-natural-cider-with-tom-and-lydia-of-artistraw-cider Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931/bonus-episode-natural-cider-with-tom-and-lydia-of-artistraw-cider.md Podcast: [A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931) Published: 2026-05-25T06:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://a-is-for-apple.captivate.fm Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/45146aae-26b7-4bc7-999f-722f232ebd0f.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931/episodes/bonus-episode-natural-cider-with-tom-and-lydia-of-artistraw-cider Duration seconds: 2002 ## Resource As promised in the last episode of A is for Apple , here is the full interview with Tom Tibbits and Lydia Crimp of Artistraw Cidery and Orchard in Herefordshire. Lydia and Tom go to great efforts to make a natural cider and perry using fruit from their own orchards, fermented the natural way without pitching any yeast. You can find out more about Artistraw on their website www.artistraw.co.uk , where you can also sign up to their newsletter, or follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky @artistrawcider. Today, we talk about the basic process of natural cider making, and how it is both an art and a science, what makes a good cider apple, terroir, and the folklore associated with cidermaking. I’ll be back in a week with Alessandra Pino and Sam Bilton with the next regular episode of A is for Apple. See Artistraw on BBC Countryfile: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002kw2w Don’t forget to email us at aisforapplepod@gmail.com or tag us on Instagram or BlueSky if you have any suggestions for future episodes. You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and Bluesky Sam Bilton also hosts the award winning Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread , Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron The Philosophy of Chocolate and Much Ado About Cooking: Delicious Shakespearean Feasts for Every Occasion (written in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe). You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar , Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper as well as Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding with another book in progress. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky Dr Allie Pino p… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931/episodes/bonus-episode-natural-cider-with-tom-and-lydia-of-artistraw-cider/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink-6817931/bonus-episode-natural-cider-with-tom-and-lydia-of-artistraw-cider.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.