this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming.
The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
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Ketchup is a fruit butter, not a jam.
Cooked, pureed fruit with sugar and spices, no pectin. Not a jam
So to make ketchup, aka a fruit butter, we must first milk the tomatoes, then separate the cream, then churn the tomato cream, then separate the tomato buttermilk.
I had no idea so much went into ketchup.
Tomato butter is a little different, after you separate the tomato buttercream and add seasoning and vinegar, add back the tomato buttercream until the consistency is where you like it
Like...melted butter?
Not sure if joking so I'll answer seriously…
Like apple butter, or pear butter. Maybe it's an Appalachian thing, I dunno. You chop up the fruit, let's say apples, and slow cook them for a few hours. Then puree them, add cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, whatever, and a bunch of sugar. Can the results. We always used small mason jars that had been in the family for God only knows how long.
Grandma wouldn't use a blender, she was old school. She'd add all the ingredients together in a big stock pot, drop a silver dollar in the bottom, and stir for hours, until she couldn't hear the coin move around anymore. I say she stirred for hours, but she'd "enlist" the help of the kids, and later, daughters-in-law, and eventually grandchildren. She was born in 1912, so I reckon it was just her way
Oh shit, that sounds exactly like Lekvar or Powidl, that might point to a mostly eastern European, maybe German but more likely Slavic origin.
So I got curious and went down the Wikipedia rabbit hole. Here's the first paragraph from the apple butter article:
So yeah, apple butter has roots in Germany, at least for central Europe. However, other fruit butters have other origins, such as Lekvar and Powidi, as you mentioned. At the same time Latwerge and Apfelkraut were developing in Germany, monasteries in the British Isles were also developing apple butter as a preservation technique. It seems the tradition/technique developed in parallel as a communal way of preserving fruit.
Since grandma's recipe included a sweetener it likely has its roots in the British Isles, where honey would be added to the preserves as a sweetener. Her apple tree produced a fairly sour soft apple, which also would inform that decision. The pies were amazing