Making apple butter is a hallmark of Appalachian cooking. With so many varieties of apples available during the fall, farmers and other locals always looked for different ways to preserve the abundance nature provided. Aside from eating them fresh picked, home cooks dried and fried them, pressed them into cider, and stored them in cellars. For a real treat, they canned jars of apple butter, a sweet, smooth spread that’s similar to applesauce but cooked much longer for a thick, jamlike consistency.
Like syrup making and hog killing, preparing apple butter was a seasonal community event. For generations, families and friends gathered around large copper kettles set over open fires and shared in the laborious, daylong work of washing, peeling, coring, chopping, seasoning, and boiling apples. After many hours of…
