Transformation

There's an apple tree on the property we rent that has very delicate yellow apples and, when they ripen in early August, I make make apple butter with them.  This year I had taken several pictures at various times and posted them on my Facebook page with the title 'Transformations'.  It is, you know ~ a transformation.  I am always awed at Mother Nature's unfolding of the rhythm of life.

I am from the 'baby boom' generation ~ born in the early years after WWII.  My parents and their peers were raised during the Depression and war years when availability of a wide variety of food during all seasons wasn't taken for granted.  Often, having food wasn't taken for granted either.

During my growing years, food in preserved and artificial forms for 'ease and convenience' came into daily life at an increasing speed.  The connection between 'real' food and what we were eating in North America became rather tenuous.  Anyone who survived instant mashed potatoes and the introduction of frozen dinners will know exactly what I mean.  (We'll get into mutations like Kraft Dinner later.)  :)

I missed flavours from my childhood made with ingredients I could spell *and* identify so, when my daughter was young, I started making jams.  Which kinda led me to experimenting with other things and so on and I found I liked stuffing things into bottles and enjoying the hell out of them when the cold wind blows.  Homemade strawberry jam just tastes so much like summer then.  :)

So when I see something like this in the spring not only do I appreciate the visual beauty and the delicate perfumes, my mind also turns to remembering the rich flavour of apple butter ~ applesauce cooked thick with sugar and spices melding into something that just begs to be spread on toast, blended into yogurt, spooned on pancakes....  Mmmmmm...

I couldn't resist running out with my camera one rainy afternoon.  The tree was heavy with apples, looking so fresh and pure.

And then August came and I went out early one morning to start picking.  There was a small side trip past the garden to take some pictures but then it was into the kitchen ~ my favourite idea of fresh.

This was my reward the next day after cooking the apple butter all day and night in my crockpot until the applesauce was thick and redolent with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and caramelized sugar.  And, yes, it tastes very, very, VERY yummy!





I hadn't thought of the blog at that time and so have no visual record of the process but I'll rectify that later.  :)  It would simply make me happy if you enjoyed what I've shared with you here.

Oh yeah...  I also write now and again.  Whether or not it's good is a matter of taste no doubt but this came out of a warm spring night when I had been lingering on the back porch after dark and the breezes were blowing my way ~

Perfumed Persuasion

fragrant night air loiters
on the other side of my door ~
apple blossoms’ sensual scent,
artlessly arrayed on my sill,
enticing me from cloistered dreams
spun in Demeter's barren realm.
the silky sibilance of distant traffic
croons at the sybil's witching moon,
a ritual for the shedding of virginal pretence.
now is the time for the casting of perfumed spells
to hold me captive for Persephone's return.
i am ready