Ruritan kickoff traditional homemade apple butter season

The Shawquon Ruritan in Stephens City kicked off their annual Labor Day homemade apple butter production efforts. Shawquon uses golden delicious apples donated from Loretta McDonald’s 1,500-acre Springwood Farms orchard near Stephens City. The apples were picked in late August. The Ruritan employ a 1930 F. B. Pease antique apple peeler machine. Over the course of two days, more than 4,000 apples were peeled, cored and segmented by the apple peeler. Ruritan members cooked three 50 gallon copper kettles of apple snits. Each kettle required 14 bushels of apples which, after peeling and core removal, were manually trimmed down to nine bushels of snits. The cooking of 27 bushels of snits took approximately 12 hours per kettle and eventually produced 73 cases or 876 pint jars of delicious Shawquon Apple Butter.

Marshall Shiley and Merrill Hausenfluck prepare apples to be manually placed in cups on an antique peeler and the core is mechanically removed along with all seeds, skin and stems, leaving only the apple pulp which will be cooked down to become apple butter. Photos courtesy of Harry Newman

Club President Gary Bunch said there is no better way to savor the sweet goodness of tasty homemade apple butter throughout the winter months than by keeping several pint jars in the kitchen cupboard. “Consider buying a few pints as Thanksgiving or Christmas gifts for friends and family,” Bunch said.

Karen Anderson, Joyce Hausenfluck, Pam Shiley and Loretta McDonald work to remove any residual core, seeds or skin from the apple pulp. The working of the apples is referred to as a “schnitzen party.” The apple pulp or snits, are stored in a cool place until ready to cook.

Shawquon Apple Butter can be purchased for $5 a pint bottle or $60 a 12-bottle case. The apple butter can be bought from the following local stores: The Seven-Eleven in Middletown, Stephens City Barbershop, Gore’s Fresh Meats, Split Ends Hair Salon and White Oak Trading Post. For more information, visit Shawquon Ruritan’s Facebook page.

Rick Keeler continuously stirs the apple butter, using a special home-made six foot long paddle-like stirrer to ensure the cinnamon is absorbed throughout the apple butter. The handle is made from hickory, however the paddle is crafted from walnut because it is a close-grained hardwood that does not bleed wood flavor into the apple butter.