On the apples topic--apple butter recipe

[booger]

You guys are killing me with your apple stories!

I think I'll see if I can find a pick-your-own orchard within an hour or two. I've never made apple butter myself but absolutely looooooooove it! Can you freeze apple butter? Any good, tried & true recipes? I can't stand store-bought apple butter. I'd love to make my own but I really want to be able to freeze it, rather than mess with canning right now.

Thanks!

 

[booger]

I found a family orchard about an hour away. How exciting! Images of the kids and I walking through, picking apples in the fall sunshine.... Ha! No pick your own. Heck, they don't even grow them there. They buy them from someplace in Missouri and have them shipped. Oh, well. They're 50 cents a pound--is that good? Better than the grocery store anyway. They have red delicious, golden delicious, and jonathon.

 

[Mrs Smith]

With Fall upon us, don't forget about pumpkin butter!!

 

[ARUBI]

Try roasting;

Preheat oven to 450*F. Arrange 8 medium McIntosh apples in a large roasting pan. Pour 2 cups unsweetened apple juice over the apples. Bake until tender and lightly browned (about 30min) Useing a fork or potatoe masher, thoroughly mash the apples in the roasting pan. Reduce oven temp. to 350*. Bake stirring ocasionally until very thick and brown. 1-1/2-to 1-3/4 hrs. Scrape into bowl an let cool. Makes 2 cups. Refrig. for up to 2 wks. or freeze for up to 6 mos.

Try it, if you like it, make bigger batches.

It's apple time in Vt. we're trying some dif. varieties this yr. StrawberryApple and Smokehouse. The smokehouse apple is supposed to be from Pa. real crisp cooking apple. StrawberryApple is a real good eating apple with a faint strawberry taste. I'm going to try that for some apple butter.

 

[booger]

Bodybagger, ew!! I never have been able to stand pumkins. Can't even bear to smell them, especially pumkin pie. Lucky for me, none of the kids like pumkin anything but poor hubby does. He's so deprived.

Arubi, what spices do you add to make the apple butter? Or was that just a roasted apple mush kind of thing?

 

[ARUBI]

That was it for the recipe. I'm trying it this weekend with the stawberryapples. Will do a taste test and let you know. That's the first thing I thought of when I read the recipe.

 

[Kathy in WV]

Apple butter is one of those things its hard to mess up on. You can even make it in your crock pot with the lid off but it takes a while. You can start with a full pan of apple slices. Cook and stir often so they don't stick. This might sound odd but we like to use a bag of those cinnamon red hot candies for flavoring. If that doesn't appeal to you just use regular cinnamon or a little nutmeg or don't put any spices in at all. It will still be good!!As it cooks down you can add sugar to your taste or none at all. Older people justpacked it into hot jars and screwed a lid down on it. Now everybody says its not safe so just in case , I put mine in hot jars put the lids on and waterbath them for 25 minutes to get a good seal. One other thing, when you cook applebutter everybody in your neighborhood will smell that wonderful aroma and show up for coffee and samples!!! It smells SO GOOD!

 

[ARUBI]

Tried the roasting method. But, I did add some cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Roasting is great! After the first 30 min. at 450*...mashing and turning temp down to 350*, that was it, no stirring, just took it out when done and packed in jars.

After trying stovetop(for years) and crockpot (last year), I'm going to stick with the roasting.

The Strawberryapples still had the hint of strawberry after roasting. Going to get more of them.

 

[booger]

Thanks for the info!

I bought a few apples to try it with but I ended up eating them all in one setting before they got a chance to be turned into anything.

I'll have to do the crockpot method. Our oven doesn't work and the stovetop only has one burner that kinda-sorta works. Or maybe I'll go fire up the woodstove that's sitting in the front yard!

So basically, just cook and moosh the apples, toss in some cinnamon and whathaveyou, and voila? Don't like nutmeg myself.

Apple butter is sooooooooo yummy, I figured it had to be way more complicated than that. The store stuff still tastes like crap, though.

 

[Mrs Smith]

Kathy asked me for a recipe for pumpkin butter. This is the one I started with, but altered it for the quantity and my taste preferences. Also, instead of putting it in the frig, I canned with a boiling water bath method in pint jars. It's sort of a pumpkin pie mix.

Pumpkin Butter

1 can solid-pack pumpkin -- (16 ounce)
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
Sugar to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Nutmeg to taste

In medium saucepan, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, honey, lemon juice,
cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring
frequently. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes, or until thickened, stirring
occasionally. Ladle mixture into clean jars or freezer containers.
Cover with lids. Store in refrigerator several weeks or freeze for
several months. Makes about 2 cups.

 

[Libertarian]

Bodybagger, How much honey? You didn't list it in the recipe.

 

[Mrs Smith]

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup. Sorry 'bout that.
With the price of honey, I replaced it with sugar instead.

 

[LC]

Ya'll are making me hungry. My Empire apples tree came in a month early. I was just barely able to get them sauced and in the freezer. The were buggy so I just removed the icky parts, cooked them down, put them through the Victorio strainer and presto-applesauce. When the end of garden is finished (no not yet) then I will thaw the sauce and put in the my big enamel cooker (you know the kind caterers use) and away we will go toward apple butter. In the past I put them in a non reactive pan in a low oven and strirred periodically. Some apples don't need any sweeting. I use a little cinnamon and a very little bit of cloves but not much of either. Good apples make great apple butter almost by themselves. Yes, I can mine and give them a water bath to make sure they seal.

LC

 

[booger]

I keep forgetting to ask.

How does it turn so brown? I can't imagine someone dumping in that much cinnamon. I guess apples do brown once they hit air. Maybe that's the answer.

 

[Todd]

This is from the Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook, ISBN 0-385-13444-4. This is a book everyone who cans/freezes should have. This is the updated 1973 version. They may have a newer version.

Anyway...peel and slice or quarter . COOK IN AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF WATER AND CIDER, HALF WATER AND HALF CIDER OR CONCORD GRAPE JUICE (never tried that.)...ADD 1/4-1/2 tsp salt for every gallon of fruit butter...USUALLY GROUND SPICES ARE ADDED...ABOUT 1/2 tsp EACH GROUND GINGER AND GROUND ALSPICE TO 1 GALLON OF BUTTER IS A GOOD PROPORTION...ALSO ADDING 3 tbsp LEMON JUICE TO 1 GALLON OF FRUIT PULP STEPS UP THE FALVOR...MEASURE PULP AND SUGAR (figure 10 cups sugar for 3 quarts of sauce)...BOIL RAPIDLY, STIRING CONSTANTLY TO PREVENT SCOURCING...LOWER HEAT AS THE BUTTER BECOMES THICK...ADD SPICES AND LEMON JUICE...CONTINUE COOKING UNTIL BUTTER IS THICK ENOUGH ALMOST TO FLAKE OFF THE SPOON. Process 5 minutes in a water bath.

There is also a suggestion to add vinegar to "...points up the apple flavor - 1/2 cup for 3 quaarts of sauce".

They also have a recipe for Lemon/Apple butter...4 pounds of apples and 2 cups of sugar plus the peel/zest of one lemon.

Todd

PS edited to add...it seems to me either Countryside or MEN had several articles about apple butter a long, long time ago.

 

[mudwrench]

i have 5 bushels of apples to make into sauce and butter none of these recipes look familiar my ex took the one i used and i didnt know it till now........... i`ll find one i got my apples at a produce auction most were 6 bucks a bushel others were 8 cool huh??

 

[LC]

mudwrench, those are great prices. just jump in and get going.

I really find that my Victorio strainer is a great help, no peeling and coring. I cost ?$35? from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I'm sure it or something similar are available elsewhere. I really wish I had had it 30 years ago when I could get windfalls for free or almost free.

I've never really used a recipe for apple butter. Just followed my taste buds and what I make doesn't even compare to the bought stuff. Of course the flavor of the particular apple often determines just how much or what sweetener or spices I use. Just cook it down and taste and add what it seems to need.

Enjoy! LC

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

I made some pretty tasty apple butter.last year.

If I recall, I boiled several pounds of apple slices in 1/2 water and 1/2 apple cider.
When soft, I ran them through a hand food mill.
I ended up with about 1/2 gallon of pulp.
To this I added about a cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup maple flavoring.
The last ingredient was Fresh ground Cinnamon.
I think about 1 tbsp.

 

[nutkin]

I'm going to have to try some of these variations! Yum!

Just made some apple butter today...first time for me!

To 4 lbs of quartered apples (just wash, don't need to peel or core them) add 1C of apple cider vineagar and water enough to almost reach the top of your apples in your kettle/pan or what have you.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes (give or take...when they're mushy, this step is done) with lid on.

Remove your soupy mixture from the heat and strain. Add strained contents back into your cooking pot and add spices...

2C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Bring back to a boil, then reduce heat again and simmer until your mixture boils down and thickens to the desired consistency (no lid this time).

Into your sterilized and heated (hot) jars, pour contents...lid and cap them...and then process for 5-10 minutes for a good seal. Voila!

It siad that you can double, triple and quadruple this recipe for however many apples you'd like to process (this does make a very small batch - not quite 3 pints). Turned out scrumptous!