Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Fascinating Facts And Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

Oct 10, 2006

The TRADITION of Making Apple butter

Apple butter is a highly concentrated form of applesauce, produced by long, slow cooking of apples with cider or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes. The concentration of sugar gives apple butter a much longer shelf life as a preserve than applesauce. It was a popular way of using apples in colonial America, and well into the 19th century. The term "butter" refers to the thick, soft consistency, and its use as a spread for breads. Typically seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, and other spices, apple butter may be used as a side dish, an ingredient in baked goods, or as a condiment. The Pennsylvania Dutch often include it as part of their traditional seven sweets and seven sours dinner table array.

In areas of the American South, the production of apple butter is a family event, due to the large amount of labor necessary to produce apple butter in large quantities. It is also used on a sandwich to add an interesting flavour, but is not as commonly used as in historical times.

FRUIT BUTTERS are great spreads.  Unlike jams, they are not loaded with sugar, and unlike butters they are not high in fat---in fact they don’t have any fat.  In addition to using these as spreads for bread, muffins, biscuits, or scones, they are also great as fillings for mini turnovers or cookies.

Fruit butters will keep two weeks, covered in the refrigerator.  If you preserve them (according to proper preserving techniques, they can be stored at room temperature.)  I usually keep one jar for myself, and give the rest to friends.  That way I don’t have to bother canning.  (Don’t forget to tell your friends to store the butter in the refrigerator, and to use it in the appropriate amount of time.)

APPLE BUTTER MAKING

There was apple butter making in the days when I was young;

There was also apple peeling in those other days unsung,

When the old copper kettle, burnished till it fairly shone,

Was brought out to do its duty in those days now all unknown

And the chatter of the women come to help us on that day,

As the apples heaped in baskets melted silently away;

But the bushels of those beauties had to be both cored and peeled,

Before the real apple butter could be finished and congealed.

There were Jonathans and Winesaps; there were Greenings in our store,

Early Junes and early Harvests, we don’t hear of anymore;

For it seems they’re out of fashion like the woman’s hats and gowns,

And the kind we had in those days cannot any more be found.

But the scent of apple butter, made with cider and with spice,

Stirred by all those smiling neighbours, turned out to be something nice;

You could smell it down the roadside if you happened down our way,

And the tang it made when boiling lingers still with me today.

How to Make Homemade Apple Butter - Easily!

You think making and canning your own apple butter is difficult?  Well, it used to be!  Until crock pots and slow cookers came along!   Now, it's easy!  Here's how to do it, complete instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated. The apple butter will taste MUCH better than anything you've ever had from a store.

Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years, and require no special attention. A side benefit is that your house will smell wonderful while it is cooking - much better than potpourri!

Directions for Making Apple Butter

Yields about 9 - 10 pints

Ingredients and Equipment

9 quarts of Applesauce, fresh or canned (See step 1)

2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

2 cups sugar

Apple Butter Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Make unsweetened applesauce!

That's right, apple butter starts with applesauce!  You can use store bought applesauce, but the apple butter won't taste nearly as good.  It's better with your own applesauce (either previously canned or fresh made).  So if you haven't made some applesauce yet start here with how to make applesauce.  Otherwise continue to step 2.

You think making and canning your own applesauce or jam is difficult or expensive?  Not at all!  The applesauce will taste MUCH better than anything you've ever had from a store, and by selecting the right apples, it will be so naturally-sweet that you won't need to add any sugar at all. Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years, and require no special attention.

Selecting the apples

The most important step!  You need apples that are sweet - NOT something like Granny Smith's  and even if I did, they still wouldn't make good applesauce - you'd have to add a lot of sugar. Instead, choose apples that are naturally sweet, like Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Rome and always use a mixture - never just one type.  This year I used 4 bushels of red delicious and one each of Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Gala and Rome.  This meant it was so sweet I did not need to add any sugar at all.  And the flavor is great! The Fuji's and Gala's give it an aromatic flavor! Honey crisp and Pink Lady are also excellent, sweet, flavorful apples.

Wash and chop the apples!

Wash the apples in plain cold water.  Chopping them is much faster if you use one of those apple corer/segmenters - you just push it down on an apple and it cuts it into segments.  Note:  You do not peel the apples! You will put the entire apple into the pot to cook.

Cook the Apples

Pretty simple put about 1 inch of water (I used either filtered tap water or store brand apple juice) on the bottom of a huge, thick-bottomed pot. Put the lid on, and the heat on high.  When it gets really going, turn it to medium high until the apples are soft through and through.

Sieve the cooked apples

There are two ways to squish the apples through a sieve,  either through a :

hand-cranked Foley food mill or through a KitchenAid sieve/grinder (with the attachments, about $300, but it lasts a lifetime).

Season and keep the applesauce hot.  Put the applesauce into a large pot. Add cinnamon to taste.  You should not need to add any sugar.  The applesauce does not need any further cooking; just keep it hot until you get enough made to fill the jars you will put into the canner (Canners hold seven jars at once, whether they are quart or pint size)

Fill the jars and process them in the water bath

Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled applesauce of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them.  Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and boiling.

If you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 15 minutes and quart jars for 20 min.  If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart below

Remove and cool the jars - Done

Step 2 – Continue Making Apple Butter - Fill the crock pot

Fill the crock pot to within an inch of full with applesauce, mine takes about 5.5 quarts. Now, you CAN do this using a regular large pot on very low heat on the stove, but the crockpot works much better, because its heat is very low. I've never had a batch burn in the crockpot.

Step 3 -Add the spices

Add:

2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

2 cups sugar

Note: Optional Spices to add:
Apple butter is spiced with 1 or /2 teaspoon cinnamon you might want to add a little ginger or nutmeg also. You might even add a sprinkle of ground cloves. There are some people who drop the "red hot" cinnamon candies in the batch to melt and have a cinnamon flavor. I have even heard of people adding a package of Strawberry Kool-Aid.

Step 4 - Cook the Apple butter

Set the crock pot on low or medium heat. 

Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels.  You don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken. Leave it to cook for 6 - 12 hours.   How long depends on the size and power of your crackpot, and how thick you like it, If you want to stir it occasionally, that's fine but not necessary.  I let mine go overnight.

It will reduce in volume by about half overnight. As it cooks down (the next morning), add the remaining applesauce (about 2 or 3 quarts) and 2 more cups of sugar. Then let it cook a couple of hours more to mix the flavors.

Step 5 - Wash the jars and lids

Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars, the water bath processing will sterilize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot apple butter. Put the lids into a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.

Step 6 - Blend the apple butter (optional)

You want a smooth, creamy texture, right? The easiest way is to use a hand-held drink blender. It does a great job of making it smooth.  You can also put it into a regular blender, but if you are going to do that, you might want to blend the apple sauce before you put it in the crock pot (it will be much thicker afterwards and won't move in a regular blender).

Tips:

Too thick?  if the apple butter cooks down too much or is too thick for your liking, just add a little bit of apple juice and blend it in.

Not thick enough? Just let it cook some more, with the lid off so the steam can escape!

Step 7 - Fill and seal the jars

Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled apple butter of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. 

Step 8 – Process the jars

Process means put them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 5 minutes and quart jars for 10 min. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart below.

Step 9 - Done

Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight)  You can then remove the rings if you like. I place the jars upside down until they are completely cool to help them seal better with all the heat against the seal.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as "The Right Way" to make apple butter. There are as many variations on the recipe as there are chefs who make it.

In late September, sweet golden delicious apples are the main ingredient. By Election Day, late tart apples are ready for use. Many cooks are partial to powdered spices, while others swear by cinnamon and cloves in oil form. Traditional recipes use three pounds of sugar per gallon of apple butter. Colonial cooks added West Indian molasses to apple butter, while health-conscious cooks today make it with no sugar at all. Some cooks recommend using cider to cook down the apple snitz, while others add plain water. Some old-timers will tell you that adding a copper penny to the bottom of the kettle will let you know if the butter is burning. Others claim the penny scratches the kettle finish and should be avoided altogether.

Luckily, there are some common grounds and truths that everyone agrees on. Most importantly, no one makes apple butter alone. It's a group activity, whether that group be family, friends, club members, or strangers passing by the kettle during the Apple Butter Festival.

There are other things to remember about apple butter:

No one can pass by a boiling kettle full of apple butter without stopping to take a stir. There is always lots of good food and better chit-chat around the kettle. Not inviting someone back to make apple butter the following year is a sure way to lose a friend. And, as Miss Eliza Leslie said in the 1848 edition of her classic cookbook, "It is not worthwhile to prepare apple butter on a small scale."

Making apple butter the "old timey way" -- over an open fire -- requires copper-lined kettles. A long-handled stirrer with a spoon-bill head, usually made from poplar, is also standard equipment. All day stirring assures no burning or sticking. "Twice around the kettle and once across" is the old adage popular among apple butter connoisseurs.

Using corn cobs or loaf bread to clean out kettles protect them from being scratched. Hardwood fires make coals rather than flame, so butter cooks slowly, not burning, sticking, or splashing over the edge. It's no secret that boiling apple butter splashed on bare skin is painful.

Putting sugar into the butter is called "adding the money." And, to keep the stirring arm going, some suggest pouring a glass of peach brandy into every stirrer twice a day.

How it's Done

Making apple butter is a simple task.

On Day One, you snitz. Take ten to twelve bushels of apples of your choice, set up on the porch with an apple peeler, several sharp paring knives, and a collection of bowls and pots. Set to work. Wash, whir, peel, and thud. Stab, quarter, snip, and plop into bowls. Throw thrashings away. By late afternoon, enough snitz (the peeled, quartered, and cored fruit) is done.

On Day Two, fire up the kettles with a bin of firewood nearby. Add liquid to the kettles full of snitz and push the apples around. Push, slurp, slosh, and stir to keep the ingredients from sticking. The stirring continues all day long. Rock back and forth, slightly lift, then push down and around. The rhythm's in the work. And watch out, because you'll probably end up getting a kettleful of smoke in your eyes.  The apples will eventually break down into sauce, volcanic bubbles boiling and bursting. Several hours later, the time will come to add sugar. Finally, add spices, darkening the butter to a deep red like the inside of the kettle.

When apple butter stands firm, it's time to fill the cleaned and boiled jars. Ladle out boiling apple butter, screw on lids, and move as a team -- dipping, filling, screwing, and packing. The final stage is cleaning the kettles and scraping off the crust of baked-on butter around the rim.

The rewards for this hard work are multiple: eating spicy, thick butter on a slice of bread on a cold winter day or giving a jar or two as a prized Christmas gift. Most of all, however, the joy is in the doing.

The tradition of making apple butter brings together people in a spirit of warmth and cooperation. There is love in every sticky bite.

Hartson Sager Dowd                                                                                                                                    hsdowd@telus.net

2006 Apple Butter Makin' Days will be held on October 13 thru October 15.

Apple Butter Makin' Days, one of Missouri's most popular festivals, has been held on the courthouse square in Mt. Vernon each October since 1967. The main attraction is apple butter, cooked using century-old methods in huge copper kettles over open fires. That craft is demonstrated on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn starting shortly after dawn and continuing until early to mid-afternoon each day of the festival.

The sale of apple butter has helped fund numerous charitable projects. While the cooking of apple butter is the prime attraction of Apple Butter Makin' Days, other activities compliment the event and provide entertainment and fun for those who attend. Businesses decorate their store windows with displays of antique furniture and collectibles, and some people still dress in costumes of the era.

The juried festival also includes games, food and entertainment for all ages. The festival draws an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 people for the three day weekend!

Contests
Contests are patterned after the fun of yesteryear and include such things as nail driving and a terrapin race. Other activities that have been favorites for years include the Pet Parade, Bubble Gum Blowing Contest, apple pie eating contest and an apple biting contest. Between the nail driving contest and the fiddlers contest you can be guaranteed to smile.

Cooking on the Courthouse Lawn
Large copper kettles, many of which are over 100 years old, are placed on open fires hours before daybreak. Then, apples which are peeled the day before, are placed in the kettles along with water , and the mixture is stirred with long wooden paddles to prevent sticking and burning. Toward the end of the twelve-hour cooking time, sugar and spices are added to give the distinctive taste. In the mid-afternoon, the apple butter is ladled into jars and sealed.

Fun for the Kids!
Kids of all ages enjoy Apple Butter Makin' Days! The three-day schedule is designed to involve and entertain the youngsters. By the end of the festival the children will have had numerous opportunities to enter the contests and compete for the many prizes available.

Nothing makes people smile more than watching the youngsters participate in the activities provided! All children enjoy the bubble gum blowing contest, terrapin race, pet parade apple pie eating contest, etc.

The Food
A wide variety of food is provided by local organizations and churches to make sure that none of the thousands of visitors arriving daily experience hunger pains! With all the choices available, the decision of what to eat becomes a difficult one! The best thing to do is to eat a little of everything!
Kettle Corn
Apple Dumplings
Caramel Apples
Apple Cider
Bratwurst and polish sausage
Funnel cakes
Hot roasted peanuts
Turkey drumsticks
Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Taco Salads
Hamburgers and hot dogs
And more!

Entertainment
Be prepared to be entertained when you arrive at the Apple Butter Makin' Day festivities! Musical and dramatic entertainment abounds. A Saturday morning parade has always been a highlight of the festival. Not only will you see the Apple Butter Queen crowning, you will listen to country, folk, bluegrass and Christian singers sharing their favorite songs with you! Your foot will tap and your hands will clap in rhythm with the old time fiddle and folk music. A gun fight on the square, an apple peeling contest, baby show and much more provide entertainment that you won't want to miss!

Booth Rental
Over 350 craftsmen from throughout the country traditionally set up booths featuring hand-crafted items, with many craftsmen demonstrating their work.

Booth spaces are available for hand-crafted items made by the exhibitor. We encourage people to demonstrate their craft at the booth. For information about whether your craft qualifies, rental and jury fees, etc., contact: Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 373, Mount Vernon, MO 65712, (417) 466-7654, Booth spaces are limited, so be sure to contact us as early as possible!

For more information, please contact us at 417-466-7654 or by Email.

Hartson Sager Dowd                                                                                                                                       hsdowd@telus.net