Email to Teena Anderson      

Recipe Categories: TeeK4's HOME PAGEBEVERAGES Canning ETHNIC

Apple Butter




Source of Recipe


Simple Recipes


Recipe Link: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/

List of Ingredients




4 lbs of good cooking apples (we use Granny Smith or Gravenstein)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
Sugar (about 4 cups, see cooking instructions)
Salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Recipe



Preparing the Fruit

1 Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels),
cut out damaged parts
.
First Stage of Cooking

2 Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer,
cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Measure out the pur�e and add the sugar and spices

3 Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve (or foodmill) and using a pestle force pulp from the chinois into a large bowl
below. Measure resulting puree. Add 1/2 cup of sugar for each cup of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve sugar.
Add a dash of salt, and the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Second Stage of Cooking

4 Cook uncovered in a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust is not forming at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth
(about 1 to 2 hours). A small bit spooned onto a chilled (in the freezer) plate will be thick, not runny.
You can also cook the pur�e on low heat, stirring only occasionally, but this will take much longer as stirring encourages evaporation.
(Note the wider the pan the better, as there is more surface for evaporation.)

Canning

5 There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher.
You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan),
and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200�F oven for 10 minutes.
6 Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal. If you plan to store the apple butter un-refrigerated, make sure to follow proper
canning procedures. Before applying the lids, sterilize the lids by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean before applying the lids. I use a hot water bath for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.