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 
