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In Deuteronomy 32:10, we are told that God protected Jacob as “the apple of His eye”. The Greek word for apple in this verse actually means “pupil” of the eye. The pupil of the eye is what actually sees and focuses on an object. God saw Jacob and made him His focus. Isn’t it neat to know that God sees us and focuses on us? Nothing in our lives is missed and we are encircled just as the pupil is encircled by the iris. Of course, when we are going through things that are so tough, if we could only remember that God sees it all and surrounds us, we might learn to be content no matter what our circumstances. God focuses on you and me like the pupil of His eye. We aren’t some insignificant part of the universe. We are loved!  But speaking of apples, today I’m going to deal with apple apples. We all know that,“An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away.” Or so every child has been told since Johnny Appleseed. Apples are high in fiber, vitamins and they just plain taste good. Now that it is Fall, apples are in abundance. Apple bobbing at Halloween or caramel apples and candied apples at fairs and bazaars are a yearly treat. There are so many varieties of apples that it is hard to keep up with what’s what. My favorite eating apple is the relatively new Gala Apple and among our apple trees, we have one Gala. My second favorite is the Yellow Delicious and we have several trees of that variety. Add in a Red Delicious and a Lodi and we have our own mini orchard. It is so fun having apple trees and when planting, it is nice to consider both summer and Fall varieties of the fruit. Our Lodi, which is a California apple and very prolific, is a summer apple, ripening in June. The Lodi apple is a cooking apple and is pretty doggone tart. I use them for applesauce and apple butter. They are also good for drying for snacks. The Fall apples are more for eating and using in pies, cakes and other baking. They can also be dried. Nice, firm, crunchy apples are best for pies because they hold their shape while cooking. The Lodis cook down to mush and a pie of Lodis winds up being an applesauce pie!! I think that I will use two posts over the next few weeks to offer you some ideas for using your apples. In this post, you will find my recipe and photo directions for making apple butter. I use our Lodi apples, but you can use any type you like as long as they are relatively tart apples. Apple butter has a lot of sugar in it and so you want nice tart apples to give it the tangy flavor characteristic of good apple butter. Lodis require little mashing or running through a colander. Apples that are more firm may require that step in order to make a nice, uniform applesauce base. Also, some cooks leave the skins on the apples for more flavor, but that requires a lot of colander work to separate the skins. I will just have to admit that I have a lazy bone but my apple butter gets rave reviews even without cooking any skins! And if you’ve never had apple butter on a hot, buttery biscuit, you just haven’t lived!      1/2 Cup Sugar 3/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cloves pinch of allspice pinch of salt For example, 20 cups of pulp require 10 cups of sugar, 5 tbsp of cinnamon, 4 tsp clove, 2 tsp allspice and 2 tsp salt. Cover and cook until sugar dissolves.     
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