Apple Pie
Honoring the Apple Tree Man

Pie filling:
5 cups peeled and sliced apples, sweet variety like Galla
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Crumb crust:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 light brown sugar
6 tablespoons real butter

1 unbaked 9" pie crust

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Mix up ingredients for pie filling in a bowl.
  3. Blend together crumb crust ingredients.
  4. Put pie filling mix in pie shell. Sprinkle crumb crust mixture over top.
  5. Bake at 400 F for 50 minutes. Remove and let cool.

THE APPLE TREE MAN

Do you know about the “Apple Tree Man”? In English folklore, he’s the spirit residing in the oldest--or most fruitful--apple tree in the orchard. He would oversee the blossoming and ripening of the fruit and look after the farmer’s fortunes to ensure a good crop. Each apple orchard will have its own Apple Tree Man. (A lone apple tree which bears fruit likely has one too.)

There are folktales about this spirit. It’s said that those who keep an apple orchard should wassail him just after mid-winter on either January 6 or 18, by spilling a drink of mulled cider after circling the tree thrice whilst singing. There is a tale of the Apple Tree Man rewarding a man one winter—ohhh, but that’s a story for another time.

Mabon Food Ideas
Practical Celebration Recipes and Preparations
"Yet Another Wicca..." home page