As I understand it, the apples normally used to produce good hard cider are of a different variety than those used commonly for regular consumption. The hard cider industry in the US has only begun to come back recently, as prohibitionists during the prohibition era in the US went around uprooting and burning the orchards that grew apples for hard cider. Few people wanted to take the risk of wasting years of their time and money regrowing the lost apple trees, especially as there didn't seem to be interest in the product when demand was predominately for other alcoholic beverages when prohibition ended.
As I understand it, the apples normally used to produce good hard cider are of a different variety than those used commonly for regular consumption. The hard cider industry in the US has only begun to come back recently, as prohibitionists during the prohibition era in the US went around uprooting and burning the orchards that grew apples for hard cider. Few people wanted to take the risk of wasting years of their time and money regrowing the lost apple trees, especially as there didn't seem to be interest in the product when demand was predominately for other alcoholic beverages when prohibition ended.
It seems that is what the mysterious lady specialises in. In an earlier comic, she said she ran an orchard that grew cider apples for "both kiddie and scrumpy", presuming kiddie being plain apple juice while scrumpy being proper cider.
