From Domestic Cookery (1869) by Elizabeth Ellicott Lea: This is a large copper kettle and an especially unique stick with a paddle-like appendage. This appendage allows the cook to scrape the sides of the kettle. The holes drilled through the paddle help in stirring large quantities of food. The handle on the stick is designed to be long enough so that one could stand while stirring the contents of the kettle. Copper, which the kettle is made out of, is an excellent conductor of heat. This makes foods in the kettle cook more evenly which is especially important in the process of cooking large quantities of food for a long time, such as in making apple butter. Decades ago making apple butter was a community event where family and friends would congregate to help. Bushels and bushels of apples had to be peeled, cored, and quartered and then cooked with fresh cider in large copper kettles over an open fire until the mixture became very thick. Apple butter must be constantly stirred as it cooks and therefore members of the community took turns standing at the kettle and using the stick to agitate the mixture. While some stirred others prepared the containers that would hold the butter when it was finished. Making apple butter in this traditional manner using equipment similar to this copper kettle continues to be a community event in some places and is often the focus of American Midwest and Eastern autumn festivals.
