Bauman's Fruit Butter
Bauman’s Fruit Butters is a family-owned Pennsylvania business with roots dating back to 1892. The company began when John W. Bauman purchased a cider press and installed it in his carriage-making shop in Sassamansville, Montgomery County. As factory-made carriages became more common, cider pressing and apple butter gradually replaced his original trade.
John soon began making apple butter for neighboring farmers using a recipe believed to have been passed down through his wife Catharine’s Schwenkfelder family. In the Pennsylvania German dialect, apple butter was known as “lattwaerrick.” Traditionally, it was valued as a way to preserve the goodness of the apple harvest without refrigeration or artificial preservatives.
The business continued through several generations of the Bauman family. John’s son Stanley joined the company in 1928, and later generations modernized the factory while preserving its traditional recipes and cooking methods. Bauman’s still operates from its small factory in Sassamansville and continues to support Pennsylvania farms and orchards by using locally grown produce whenever possible.
Today, Bauman’s produces more than 18 varieties of fruit butter and applesauce, along with apple cider and old-fashioned condiments. Its fruit butters are made by slowly cooking clean fruit into a naturally smooth, concentrated spread. No pectin, artificial thickeners, preservatives or unnecessary additives are used—just fruit, sugar and carefully selected spices, depending on the variety.
From classic apple butter to flavors such as blueberry, cherry, peach, plum and pumpkin, Bauman’s products carry forward more than a century of Pennsylvania Dutch food traditions and family craftsmanship.
