212 Old Time Gardens 



Each neighbor brought his or her own Apple parer. 

 This people make great use of Apples and cider in 

 their food, and have many curious modes of cook- 

 ing them. Dr. Heilman in his paper on " The 

 Old Cider Mill " tells of their delicacy of " cider 

 time" called cider soup, made of equal parts of 

 cider and water, boiled and thickened with sweet 

 cream and flour ; when ready to serve, bits of bread 

 or toast are placed in it. " Mole cider" is made 

 of boiling cider thickened to a syrup with beaten 

 eggs and milk. But of greatest importance, both 

 for home consumption and for the market, is the 

 staple known as Apple butter. This is made from 

 sweet cider boiled down to about one-third its 

 original quantity. To this is added an equal weight 

 of sliced Apples, about a third as much of molasses, 

 and various spices, such as cloves, ginger, mace, 

 cinnamon or even pepper, all boiled together for 

 twelve or fifteen hours. Often the great kettle 

 is filled with cider in the morning, and boiled 

 and stirred constantly all day, then the sliced 

 Apples are added at night, and the monotonous 

 stirring continues till morning, when the butter 

 can be packed in jars and kegs for winter use. 

 This Apple butter is not at all like Apple sauce ; 

 it has no granulated appearance, but is smooth 

 and solid like cheese and dark red in color. 

 Apple butter is stirred by a pole having upon 

 one end a perforated blade or paddle set at right 

 angles. Sometimes a bar was laid from rim to 

 rim of the caldron, and worked by a crank that 

 turned a similar paddle. A collection of ancient 



