Apple butter is a concentrated form of apple sauce. It’s made by slow cooking peeled and cored apples with cider until they caramelize. Tart apple varieties usually require a little sweetening, like sorghum or molasses.
Apple butter’s roots can be traced to the Middle Ages in monasteries in modern-day Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. With large orchards, monks needed a way to preserve their abundant apple harvest, and simmering the fruit down into a thick spread was a perfect solution. The name “butter” comes not from dairy, but from the spread’s soft, thick, butter-like consistency.
German immigrants, including the Pennsylvania Dutch, brought their tradition of making apple butter to America in the 17th century. This was a practical way to preserve fruit in a time before refrigeration.
Making apple butter was a laborious task that became a community or family-wide social event, especially in the American South and Appalachia. Families would gather in the fall to prepare large quantities in copper kettles over open fires.
The work was so demanding that it became a social event called an “apple butter frolic.” The apple mixture is boiled in a large kettle over an open fire and family members take turns constantly stirring the mix with long handled wooden paddles. The deep brown buttery textured sauce is usually flavored with cinnamon, cloves, or other spices. Four or five bushels of apples yield a gallon of apple butter, which is sealed into jars. When it’s time to eat, it’s spread on buttered toast, added to baked goods, and used as a side dish or topping.
Despite the advent of modern conveniences, many families, particularly in Appalachia, still continue the traditional, outdoor method of making apple butter as a way to preserve cultural heritage and foster community.
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