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The change of seasons is important in every culture. The onset of fall brings harvest for many hearty fruits and vegetables. Apples dominate September; they certainly are why there is a tradition of giving an apple to the teacher when school starts.
I like June apples for cooking because they are extremely tart, but difficult to find. For years, we had a June apple tree in our back yard, but age took its toll and the tree eventually had to come down. My parents' neighbors, however, still have their June apple tree, and my mother makes applesauce from the fruit they share and freezes it. Granny Smith apples are good for cooking, too, because of their tartness, plus they hold up well for cooking. They are easier to lay hands on, too. One dish my grandmother used to make that stands out as unique is fried apple pies. The don't look or taste like anything you can buy at the grocery store. No bakery turns out anything like them and no one I know can make them anything like Grandma. In fact, many people I know don't even know what I'm talking about when I say "fried apple pies." One friend said, "You mean like they have at McDonald's?" Not exactly, I said. In case you're unfamiliar, too, let me explain. Fried apple pies are half-moon-shaped wedges of dough fried in a mixture of butter and lard, and filled with cinnamony-sweet dried apples. I've talked to a couple of people in the area who make fried apple pies using canned biscuit dough and apple butter. My grandmother would roll over in her grave if she knew this. The process for make this seemingly simple dessert or snack is complicated. It starts with good, dried apples, and they aren't easy to come by. When my grandmother was growing up, and after she was grown, she and her sister gathered apples and dried them in the sun on what I call a "stretcher" because it looks like something to carried hospital patients on. The girls actually made their "stretchers" by stretching cloth or fine screen tightly across two narrow boards and securing the material with small nails. They laid the stretcher atop a couple of chairs - whatever they could find that would provide even elevation and withstand being outside in the sun. Then, they washed and dried the apples, quartered and cored them and sliced them fairly thinly before spreading them out on the stretcher. They had to keep an eye on them, shooing away crows and the younger children trying to pilfer a slice or two. Once the apples reached the right consistency - a tan hue and almost leathery - it was time to make pies.
The copyright of the article Dried, Fried Apple Pies in Appalachian Cooking is owned by Lee Ward. Permission to republish Dried, Fried Apple Pies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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