<P> Hard apple cider was by far the most common alcoholic beverage available to colonists . This is because apple trees could be grown locally throughout the colonies, unlike grapes and grain which did not grow well at all in New England . Cider was also easier to produce than beer or wine, so it could be made by farmers for their own consumption . Since it was not imported, it was much more affordable to the average colonist than beer or wine . Apple trees were planted in both Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Colony as early as 1629 . Most of these trees were not grafted, and thus produced apples too bitter or sour for eating; they were planted expressly for making cider . Cider was sometimes also distilled or freeze - distilled into applejack (so called because freeze - distillation was called "jacking"); the cold climate of the Northeast in the wintertime encouraged the process . The beverage was particularly popular in New Jersey, where applejack was occasionally called "Jersey lightning" and was sometimes used to pay road - construction crews . </P> <P> Before the Revolution, New Englanders consumed large quantities of rum and beer as maritime trade provided relatively easy access to the goods needed to produce these items . Rum was the distilled spirit of choice as molasses, the main ingredient, was readily available from trade with the West Indies . In the continent's interior, colonists drank whiskey, as they had ready access to corn and rye but did not have good access to sugar cane . However, up until the Revolution, many colonists considered whiskey to be a coarse beverage unfit for human consumption, believing that it caused the poor to become raucous and disorderly . </P> <P> Beer was such an important consumable to Americans that they would closely watch the stocks of barley held by farmers to ensure quality beer production . In John Adams' correspondence with his wife Abigail, he asked about the quality of barley crops to ensure adequate supply for the production of beer for himself and their friends . However, hops, essential to production of beer, did not grow well in the colonies . It only grew wild in the New World, and needed to be imported from England and elsewhere . In addition to these alcohol - based products produced in America, merchants imported wine and brandy . Beer was not only consumed for its flavor and alcohol content, but because it was safer to drink than water, which often harbored disease - causing microorganisms . Even children drank small beer . </P> <P> Unlike the north, the south did not have a central cultural origin or a single culinary tradition . The southern colonies were also more diverse in their agricultural products . Slaves and poor Europeans in the South shared a similar diet, based on many of the indigenous New World crops . The rural poor often hunted and ate squirrel, opossum, rabbit, and other woodland animals . Salted or smoked pork often supplemented the vegetable diet . Those on the "rice coast" ate ample amounts of rice, while the southern poor and slaves used cornmeals in breads and porridges . Wheat was not an option for most poorer residents in the southern colonies . </P>

By the late eighteenth century the economy of the southern colonies of north america