New Hampshire: Apples, Autumn and Heirloom Recipes

Late August to late October is the apple-picking season in New Hampshire.  According to Foster’s Daily Democrat, Governor Maggie Hassan picked “the first NH apple of the season” on September 4, 2014, the 6th New Hampshire Apple Day being celebrated.

Last year I celebrated the season with a story about New Hampshire’s Missing Heirloom Apples.  This year I am celebrating everything apple by sharing some of New Hampshire’s lost or forgotten apple recipes with you.  You won’t find these directions in any cookbook or New England food magazine.  They come direct to you from newspaper articles printed between 1861 and 1886. [Editor’s caveat: a reminder that these recipes were made for baking or cooking before the advent of the modern stove, so there are no instructions for specific temperatures–you will have to ad lib.]

APPLE CORN BREAD.–Mix 1 point of Indian meal with 1 pint of sweet milk, and add 1 quart of chopped sweet apples, and a small teasponful of salt. Bake in shallow pan in a quick oven. To be eaten hot. — The Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst NH) Friday November 8, 1861, Vol 60, Issue 15, Page 1-2

APPLE DUMPLINGS, BOILED. Use russet apples, pare and cut them in half, take out the core and fill the cavities with sugar, apricot, jam and a clove; join the halves and inclose them in suet paste, boil them in clothes for about three quarters of an hour and serve them with melted butter, plain sauce. — Thursday, February 19, 1880, New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord NH), page 1

SWEET APPLE PUDDING. Take a pudding dish holding about four quarts, pare and quarter a sufficient quantity of sweet apples to fill the dish. Then take one cup of dry Indian meal and stew it over the apples without moistening in any way. Then put a small quantity of ginger and salt, then pour one cup of molasses over the whole, take a sufficient quanitity of nice sweet milk to cover the whole, put into the oven and bake six hours, or longer. The longer baked the better without stirring. — Thursday, November 18, 1886 New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord NH), page 2

APPLE MERINGUE. To a quart of sifted apple sauce, add the yolks of three eggs, butter the size of a small egg, a little nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and sugar to taste. Put the mixture into a neat baking dish and cook until a light brown on top. Cover with a meringue made with the three whites of the egs beaten with three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a little lemon juice until stiff. Sift powdered sugar over the top, return to the oven long enough to color delicately and serve cold with sweetened and flavored cream. — Thursday, October 20, 1881, New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord NH), page 1

***ADDITIONAL READING***

2014: Some places to buy New Hampshire heirloom apples

New England Apple Growers Association: New Hampshire Apple Growers, Find An Orchard, Pick-Your-Own