“Being at the house of a good old German friend in Pennsylvania, in September last, we noticed upon the table what was called apple butter; and finding it an agreeable article, we inquired into the modus operandi in making it, which we give for the gratification of such in New England as may wish to enjoy the luxury of Pennsylvania apple butter.” – Poughkeepsie Journal, NY 1838
Again, we turn to Elizabeth Ellicott Lea for guidance on preserving the harvest. Apple butter, Wikipedia will tell you, originated in Germany and the Netherlands, and has been a popular way to preserve the apple harvest in the U.S. since Colonial times. The spread is considered a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty. Lea’s cooking has a lot of overlap with the Pennsylvania Dutch, so unsurprisingly she has two recipes -or “ways”- in “Domestic Cookery.”
One of her recipes, “[Apple Butter] Another Way” prescribes the use of a huge kettle, where cider is reduced and apples are boiled in it for hours, while constantly stirred with “a stick made of hickory wood, somewhat like a common hoe, with holes in it.”
This considerable undertaking became a family or even a neighborhood communal effort. The scene at the modern-day Berkeley Springs Apple Butter Festival in WV is not all that different. Every year, people gather in the town square and labor over the hot cauldrons as the smell wafts around the bustling town.
Apple butter seems particularly primed to evoke feelings pure and nostalgic for people in this region.
Advertisement, 1923
This is, of course, the part where I mention that it hasn’t always been that great. I found at least two instances where a young child died from falling into the boiling vat.
Additionally, many who ate apple butter were killed as a result of primitive canning technology.
Before the widespread use of glass jars for canning, it was common to “put up” various preserves in earthen vessels. These vessels often contained a poisonous glaze that was corroded by acidic foods like apple butter, with deadly results. Elizabeth Lea cautions about this in her other apple butter recipe, entitled “Apple Butter. With Remarks on the Use of Earthen Vessels.” This recipe is a little more user-friendly, with no need for a vat or a hickory stick. She even mentions that if you cannot finish the apple butter in a day, you can put it in a tub to continue the next day. I opted to put mine in the slow cooker when I needed to step away.
The farmers market is awash with apples right now. It’s overwhelming. I was going to ask one of the friendly vendors for advice on a good apple-butter apple but I saw that Lewis Orchards was selling a mixed crate of ugly apples (and the odd pear) and figured that was the way to go. Not all apples broke down at the same rate but I eventually got them all into submission.
Some recipes use cider. Others, like the recipe in “300 Years of Black Cooking in St. Mary’s County,” use vinegar. I opted to use a blend of hard and fresh cider.
The lovely aroma did indeed fill me with nostalgia for Berkeley Springs, campfires, and ‘jacket weather.’ It also filled me with anticipation for grilled cheese, barbecue sauce, and scrapple sandwiches.
Recipe:
“Have your kettle well cleaned, and fill it early in the morning with cider made of sound apples, and just from the press; let it boil half away, which may be done by three o’clock in the afternoon; have pared and cut enough good apples to fill the kettle; put them in a clean tub, and pour the boiling cider over; then scour the kettle and put in the apples and cider, let them boil briskly till the apples sink to the bottom; slacken the fire and let them stew, like preserves, till ten o’clock at night. Some dried quinces stewed in cider and put in are an improvement. Season with orange peel, cinnamon or cloves, just before it is done; if you like it sweeter, you can put in some sugar an hour before it is done. If any thing occur that you cannot finish it in a day, pour it in a tub, and finish it the next day; when it is done put it in stone jars. Any thing acid should not be put in earthen vessels, as the glazing is poisonous. This way of making apple butter requires but little stirring; you must keep a constant watch that it does not burn.
Pears and peaches may be done in the same way, and if they are sweet,
will not require sugar.”
Recipe from “Domestic cookery, useful receipts, and hints to young housekeepers” by Elizabeth Ellicott Lea
