Making Applesauce
When Native Americans would kill a buffalo, they would thank the spirit of the buffalo for giving up its life so that they could continue to live. That was part of their spirituality.
I feel a little like that with my apple tree. I talk to her in the morning light. And when I squeeze past her branches that crowd our small backyard, I thank her for her enormous generosity.
The main way I thank her and her Creator is by making applesauce. It’s not a small job. We must have some 500 apples this season! They’re cooking apples, tart and crisp.
This isn’t the first time I’ve dedicated hours of time to making applesauce but this year we got serious enough to buy a peeler/slicer/corer. It’s scary. It looks like a little torture device. Purely mechanical, no motor, shiny red, only $10 at World Market.
The process is pretty basic. Impale an apple on the three tongs of the peeler, crank the screw till the apple goes through, drop the slices in a bath of orange juice to keep them from turning brown, then into the crock pot with a bit of water, sugar and cinnamon, cook on low for six hours, cool, freeze.
We now have a dozen bags of deep red, delicious applesauce for breakfast, desserts and sharing. I was able to give away four big bowls of the best apples at church. I grieved when I had to put the last dozen rotten apples in the green waste bin.
Toward the end of the crop year the apple skins get a bit tough. Or if they fall off the tree they bruise, or the birds peck on them or they get a worm. Few of the apples are perfect. With a little extra care, even these “ugly” ones make great sauce. There has to be an allegory in this story somewhere.
I do a similar thing with the Thanksgiving turkey carcass. Cut every bit of meat off the bones and freeze it. Cook the bones in vinegar water and save the stock. Add some vegetables and seasoning and what magnificent soup! And I thank God, not just for Her bounty, but for this specific bird that gave up its life that we can go on living.
This summer our little congregation, Bethel Lutheran (ELCA), Templeton, CA, is Celebrating Ugly Food with guest speakers and videos, all capped with an Ugly Food Banquet. We explain it as “exploring the intersection of water, food and faith in a time of drought.”
Part of the month-long celebration is a focus on gleaning through GleanSLO, the gleaning program of the San Luis Obispo County Food Bank. We plan to help glean surplus produce in fields, backyards, grocery stores, maybe even restaurants.
For me, waste is disrespect for our Creator. Yes, it takes effort, even some planning and determination to utilize fully the resources for which we’ve taken responsibility. We can’t take care of everybody’s food but we can care for that which we’ve taken into our lives. When we buy food – raw or cooked – we accept responsibility for it. It will not go to waste!
I love left-overs. We carry a “take-home” carton in our trunk to avoid single-use restaurant containers. Just another of those little habits that add up to Caring for Creation.
Peace.
