Nothing better than apple butter…
Published 1:41 pm Friday, November 20, 2020
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders A lesson handed down through the generations. Joseph Nicosia stirs applebutter in his Nano’s (great grandmother Mae Pritchard) kettle while his great aunt Dossie Pritchard (seated), Uncle Nick Souders and his Mimi Sandy Souders watch and share memories of making applebutter while they were growing up over the years.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Abbi Carey tries her hand at stirring the kettle as Nick Souders and her mother Cathy look on.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders When making applebutter there are three very important items you need to have. One, a brass and copper kettle. The older and more seasoned the kettle the better. Two, a long handled wooden stirring paddle, being used here by George Carey, also the older and more seasoned the better. The paddle that is. Three, an outdoor wood burning fire, kept at just the right temperature. Oh, and four someone like Dossie Pritchard, who knows how everything and everyone works together to create this wonderful preserve.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Cathy Carey, a native born South Korean, works on her stirring technique as she learns about the fine art of making southern Applebutter at her neighbors home. Cathy’s daughter Abbi watches and awaits her turn to stir the kettle.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders After over seven hours of cooking and continuous stirring over a wood burning fire. A total of around 25 pints and five quarts were filled after it got dark, of both cinnamon and vanilla flavored goodness. Everyone involved went to bed sore, tired, smelling of smoke, and looking forward to enjoying this labor of love for the next year or so.
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One of the favorite fall things to do for many is to get together with friends and neighbors and have a big apple butter stir off.
It’s a time that brings together those who often we haven’t talked to in a long time and since cooking apple butter is a slow process, a lot of catching up can be done along with sharing a meal together.
If one has never tried to stir off apple butter, you don’t know what you are missing.
First, the apples have to be peeled and prepared with sugar, red hots, and cinnamon —or one’s favorite recipe — to go into a large pot, typically copper and brass to prevent sticking.
A large-handled stirrer with a paddle at the end is used to stir the apple butter that is cooked over an open fire to prevent those who are doing the labor from being burnt by the fire.
The smells that come from the bubbling apples will make one’s tongue slap their brains out according to old-timers who often canned several quarts to get their families through the winter months.
There is nothing more tastier than baking a pan of cat-head biscuits, covering the piping hot biscuits with a big slab of butter, and then generously applying the delicious apple butter to top it off.
Star photographer Larry Souders caught one of these apple butter stirs going on in his own neighborhood and shared some of the day’s event with our Star readers.
