September-October 2012—Easy Apple Butter Recipe & History

September-October 2012—Easy Apple Butter RecipeEasy Apple Butter Recipe

My article on apples and the history of apple butter along with an easy apple butter recipe and photographs can be found on page 5 of the print edition of natural Life News & Directory, September-October 2012.

I have been writing a column in Natural Life News & Directory for the past nine years. This bi-monthly, whole-living magazine serves much of southwest Montana. Many of the recipes from past columns are available in their online archives.

Celebrate Apples—an excerpt

…An almost perfect food, apples contain few calories yet high amounts of vitamins C & B, beta carotene, antioxidants and fiber—affirming the maxim that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. To get the most nutrition from apples, eat the whole fruit including the peel. So eat organically grown apples more often than not….

Preserving Fall’s Bounty
Both the ancient Greeks and Romans preserved all manner of fruit (apples included) by cooking them slowly for long periods of time. Many Europeans continued preserving fruit this way and thankfully some brought this tradition with them to the “New World.”

During colonial times, the colonists made apple butter through the long slow cooking of apples with spices and water or cider. Doing so insured their enjoyment of apples for months past the end of apple season. Neighbors and communities would spend days harvesting and cutting apples, concentrating cider and preparing apple butter in huge copper kettles over open fires. Constant stirring was necessary to keep the fragrant and ever-thickening apple butter from scorching. Today, a slow cooker makes this same process amazingly undemanding….

Rhubarb Apple Butter Recipe

You might also enjoy the Rhubarb Apple Butter Recipe on this site.

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