Reggie Parson, Zac Morgan and Marty Braithwaite stand and observe as fire department treasurer Denny Barron takes a turn at stirring the kettle cooked over a wood fire Saturday. Toni Milbourne

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Volunteers at Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department have carved out the last week in October for the past 35 years and committed the time to making what has become a staple on many tables — their delicious apple butter.

The work begins early in the week, as kettles are set up in the engine bay where the cooking begins Tuesday, continues Wednesday and culminates Saturday at the 35th annual Apple Butter Festival, which is open to the public.

“We started back in 1989, when we moved into this building,” said SVFD member Marty Braithwaite, who has been a part of the process for many years. Braithwaite’s job, said Chief Ross Morgan, is to keep the propane burners burning. Of the 23 kettles filled with bubbly butter on Saturday, 22 of them were heated by propane heat and were found inside the bay rather than outside where the process occurred years before. Bad weather one year had the kettles moved inside and that move has been a good one that has been continued with the use of the propane heaters.

“The first year, we had 17 kettles over wood fires,” Braithwaite said, noting that this year there was only one wood-fire heated kettle. “It’s so much easier to control it inside with the propane.”

A steady stream of volunteers from various organizations such as Jefferson High School’s football, softball and baseball teams; the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; the Brothers of Harmony Lodge; and the Rotruck family, which kept the apple butter stirring throughout the hours-long cooking process. There was also assistance given from many community volunteers who come out each year to join in the work and the fun.

Stacks of empty jars wait to be filled during apple butter making at Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday. More than 4,000 jars were filled, before the week-long work was complete. Toni Milbourne

By the time of Saturday’s open house, which once again included breakfast and lunch service as well as a craft fair in Barron Hall, over 1,200 jars of apple butter were already complete. Estimates for the final count by the end of the day Saturday were given at more than 4,000 jars for the week.

Braithwaite said the process of making the apple butter has changed just a bit over time. In years’ past, the volunteers peeled and cored each apple before chopping it into pieces for the cooking process. Now, apples are cooked without peeling and then fed through a steamer and a juicer to separate peels and seeds from the meat of the apple that is cooked down into the apple butter.

What has not changed is that only Domino Sugar is used in the apple butter. Since finding out the importance of the name brand sugar several years ago, Domino has donated a portion of the sugar used in the process of making the apple butter and continued with that donation this year. The original recipe for the apple butter, which came from Naomi Miller, used Domino and members have never wavered from her direction.

Funds raised from the annual event go into the department’s general fund to help cover operational costs for the volunteer company.

Those who wish to purchase quarts of the apple butter may stop in at the fire department. Jars are also available various locations in the community. One may call the station at 304-876-2311 to find out specifically where and when jars can be secured.