Apple syrup is a sweet thing to pour into tea or spread over pancakes. A spoonful in hot water makes a delectable mug of hot cider when spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with honey. Could there be a more flavorful sense of health and security?
Apple syrup comes from the apple tree I adopted through the local Heritage Fruit Tree program. My role as guardian is to prune and care for a homestead tree that's more than 100 years old. It grows in a horse pasture in Emma, and the landowner receives a share of the cider we press.
A few weeks ago, a group of friends picked apples and pressed cider from that tree, netting 20 gallons. I boiled down 8 gallons into half a dozen quarts of thick, gooey apple syrup. Canning it and stocking it on shelves already laden with jars of pickled beets made me feel like I was putting money in the bank.
If a few people volunteering their time for one day can produce and store the concentrated sweetness of one apple tree to be enjoyed for an entire winter, think what a community of like-minded people could do with more trees, more crops and more land. A Declaration of Food Independence could make that happen...read the rest of the story
No comments:
Post a Comment