Amish Apple Butter

Last week I had a really interesting experience - an invitation to a large Amish event in Holmes County, Ohio. http://www.visitamishcountry.com/

Most people think that the main location for the Amish is in Lancaster County, PA, but in fact, the largest population in the US is in the Holmes County, OH area. I have occasion to deal with some delghtful Amish produce growers and resellers all over the country.

Because of disease/liability difficulties & higher-tech issues relating to supermarkets being able to trace the meats back to their source, most big companies stopped buying meat from small farmers. This  and   all the poultry & livestock 'megafarms'  that have sprung up, have caused  most  of the Amish to switch from dairy and livestock farming to growing vegetables. Lots of them market their harvests through each local Amish community's produce auctions, created to facilitate volume marketing for them. Restaurants and brokers purchase the veggies for their own use as well as distribution through supermarket chains and restaurant suppliers.

There are some obvious problems the Amish experience, mostly due to not having the same ag educational background that most farmers do today, nor access to research via technology - no phones, no internet, and many do not watch videos.  But, extension agents and others provide expert advice and they are certainly interested and ready and eager to improve their  growing methods.

Thus, my invitation to an all-day seminar on produce growing. The presenters were the Amish themselves. It was held in an Amish livestock auction barn,with rough plank auditorium-style seating. There were about 20 of us "English" as well as about 600 Amish men and women from as far as Missouri, Michigan, Virginia, Canada, NY, Indiana, PA, and Wisconsin. Some came by buggy. Most Amish hire drivers with vans for for distance trips such as this. It was a wonderful experience; the Amish are welcoming, friendly people. They served a hot lunch with a variety of delicious fruit pies for dessert. Mid-morning they'd passed out a photocopied Thanksgiving prayer that reflected on the growing and harvesting seasons. We didn't realize at the time that this prayer would be sung as grace just before lunch. The sound of 600 a capella voices singing this prayer to the tune of "Amazing Grace" was simply beautiful.

Back to the Apple Butter recipe that got this discussion started ~~ A number of people had requested we bring them Amish cheese and Amish apple butter from some of the many shops in this huge tourist attraction. We got there too late Thursday night to find anything open, and had to be at the auction barn at 6:30 a.m. the morning of the seminar - and then took a route home than didn't take us past anywhere to buy those things. It was Friday afternoon and we had a 4 hour drive ahead and Friday night plans, so we we scooted home without bringing any of the requested treats.

If you have a lot of apples you need to use up, or just love good apple butter, here is a recipe from Marcia Adams' "Cooking from Quilt Country" cookbook. Marcia is an award-winning food columnist who hosted a PBS cooking show long before the Food Network was ever imagined. She lives near Ft. Wayne, Indiana and had befriended many Amish in the area, becoming an expert on Indiana Amish cooking and lifestyles. Her shows featured Amish recipes, as well as a quick feature on an antique and a beautiful quilt. http://www.wbgu.org/community/documentary/MarciaAdams/Kitchen/MAKitchen_index.html

Marcia traveled the country filming her shows and doing cooking/speaking engagements. I was fortunate to get  to help with cooking shows she did at a  Home Expo in the mid 90's. I did some prep work for her onstage - chopping and stirring - as she cooked. She was calm and lovely,   elegant in speech and manner. If I am not mistaken, she had a heart transplant a few years later. I recall seeing her home in her Christmas- themed recipe book and being surprised that unlike her homey, very simple country-focused cooking and TV program, her house is ultra-contemporary.   In any case, this is Marcia's recipe, made in an "un-Amish" slow cooker instead of a copper kettle over and open fire.

Amish Apple Butter ~~ 7 cups unsweetened applesauce, 2 c apple cider, 1 1/2 c honey, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp allspice. Combine in a crock pot and cook on low for 14-15 hours. Pack while hot into 4 hot pint jars. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes after the water begins to boil again.

(If you plan to enjoy it right away you need not process it in a waterbath at all!)