Two Ways to Make Apple Butter

Over the years, while apple butter is not among my top favorites, I have tried it out, with some very good results. And of course, if there comes along a newer, better or different way to make something, I have to try that also. So it came about that I tried out an apple butter recipe that would taste (to my sisters-in-law) like her mother's recipe. As my mother-in-law had already passed away, this had to be strictly by taste memory. I believe we must have come quite close in our taste-testing, and this is the recipe I created.

Apple Butter

Apple Butter

Makes approximately 5 pints

4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, sliced
2 cups water
½ cup brown sugar, per cup of resulting apple puree
4 teaspoons cassia cinnamon
1½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon salt

Simmer the apples and water together in a pot until soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 to 25 minutes until most of the liquid is gone from the pan. Puree the apples, then measure the amount; there should be around 6 to 6½ cups of puree. Return the puree to the pot.

Add in ½ cup of brown sugar per cup of apple puree. If you have 6 cups puree, add in 3 cups of brown sugar. Add in the spices and stir well. Cook, stirring the mixture until it is thick and sheets off of a spoon, about 10 or 15 minutes more.

Have your canning jars sterilized and hot. Using a wide mouth funnel, ladle the hot apple butter directly into the jars, leaving ¼-inch of room at the top of the jar. With damp paper toweling, wipe the rim of the jar before placing seal and rim.

Lower the jars into a canning pot, or a large stock pot with a rack in the bottom, with boiling water about half way up the pot. Make sure the water is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars and maintains a boil throughout the timing process. Process the jars as stated below:

Half pint or pint jars: 
0 - 1,000 feet 5 minutes; 
1,001 - 6,000 feet 10 minutes; 
above 6,000 feet 15 minutes.

Quart sized jars: 
0 - 1,000 feet 10 minutes;
1,001 - 6,000 feet 15 minutes;
above 6,000 feet 20 minutes.

Turn off heat and wait for 5 minutes before removing the jars with a jar lifter. Set them on a towel to cool. If you hear a "pop," then congratulations, the jar has sealed properly.

NOTES: If you like a more acidic flavor to your apple butter, add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar when cooking the apples. It will need more time than noted to cook the liquids out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This next recipe came about when I heard or read about making apple butter in a slow cooker. I don't use my slow cooker - one of the old varieties with a simple Low or High setting - too very often, so when I see a recipe for slow cooking that tickles my fancy, I must try it out. 

Basically, all the ingredients are tossed into the crock pot and allowed to cook. It doesn't get much easier than that. Vinegar can be added to give that tang, or left out completely; this will affect the amount of time needed to cook down. The amount of spices can vary as desired. I have a larger crock pot that easily held the original 12 cups of apples, although this could be made in a smaller crock pot with part of the apples at first, then adding the rest as they break down slightly. The recipe can be canned and water bath processed or frozen, as desired. This is the recipe I created:

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Makes about 6 cups or 3 pints

12 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
4 teaspoons good-quality cassia cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
½ teaspoon cloves
½ cup cider vinegar (I used Bragg's)
 
Place apples into the crock pot. In a separate bowl, combine the sugars and spices, then pour them over the apples. Pour in the vinegar if using. Set crock pot to high for about 2 hours, stirring as the apples start to break down. Reduce crock pot to low and allow to cook for anywhere from 14 to 18 hours more, or until well broken down. The apple butter can be left as is at this point, but if you prefer a smoother product, an immersion hand blender works well.

Place the apple butter into freezer containers and freeze for later use or ladle into sterile 1 - cup to 1-pint sized canning jars, place lids and rings and place into a boiling water bath for the time shown in the table for the recipe above.

If any jars do not seal properly after the water bath, store them in the refrigerator. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Pickles - 'tis the Season

Some of my Beet Pickles

I must start out with the fact that I am not into canning all that much. On occasion, I have canned some few jars of something, such as jam, dill pickles, pickled beets or pickled jalapenos. On the other hand, when I married my current husband, I found out about pickles and canning on a scale heretofore unknown in my world. My mother-in-law was the absolute Queen of Pickles, and I say that in a most loving and appreciative way. Her pickles and other canning were legend. From fruits and tomatoes to Green Tomato Relish, Apple Butter and all things in between, her larder was well stocked, year after year.

All of which makes it no surprise that my husband is absolutely nuts about the pickles she made, such as her green Lime Chunk Pickles or Bread and Butter Pickles or her Watermelon Rind Pickles. He eats these types of pickles like there will be no tomorrow. In my life I had never seen anyone eat so many pickles at one sitting. Once I tasted my mother-in-law's pickles, I understood how this could be the case. In particular, her Lime Chunk Pickles were so delicious, to me they were nearly like a dessert. I was happy with 4 or 5 chunks. Richly spiced and very sweet, with enough vinegar tang to make them incredible. Early in my relationship, she gave me the recipe. However, it was a recipe that would take days of work, and I heard enough about the process to make me leery of trying to make them alone.

I grant you, I have not been one to shy from a cooking challenge. I have made Guatemalan tamales, for heaven's sake. The difference being that the first time I made Guatemalan tamales, I was helping my (ex) sisters-in-law make them, and so I was instructed all along the way just how something should be done, or how it should look or why it was done in this one way, etc. As for the pickles, I never had the opportunity to see how they were done. If I was going to spend three days on making pickles, I surely didn't want to find out they didn't come out right.

Making Lime Chunk Pickles

My sister-in-law, Sherri, when visiting recently, told me that WE were going to make Lime Chunk Pickles. She had an order placed for a half bushel of pickling cucumbers. She already had all the large pots and a canning pot, as I do not. I was instructed to pay for the cucumbers and we got started making these little gems last Friday evening.

Rinsed of lime and soaking in clear water

Up to this time in my life (at age 63) I had never, ever, come face to face with a half bushel of cucumbers. Sherri and I sat at the table and cut all those cucumbers into small chunks, or thick slices. She prepared the lime solution of:


1 cup of pickling lime, mixed with
2 gallons of water

This mixture was made in each of two 16-quart Granite ware preserving kettles. We divided the cucumber slices into these two pots and stirred them well. At this point, they were to set overnight, stirring them now and again to keep them in contact with the lime that tends to settle to the bottom. This part of the process is to firm up the pickles and help with the nice crisp crunch, later on. My husband was in charge of the periodic stirring.

The next morning, Sherri came over and we took turns washing the cucumber slices free of all the lime solution. This step is very important as any leftover lime will turn the pickles black. No one wants black pickles! We went to the degree of actually running fingers over each and every cucumber chunk or slice, under running water. After this thorough washing, the cucumber chunks were once again returned to the cleaned kettles and covered with clear water and left to soak for the day.

That evening, we prepared the brine. When I think of brine, I think of a salt water solution. While this mixture contains salt, it contains no water. The "brine" mixture (per kettle) is:

2 quarts apple cider vinegar
4½ pounds white sugar
1 tablespoon canning salt
2 tablespoons celery seed
2 tablespoons whole cloves
2 tablespoons pickling spices
½ teaspoon green past food color

Lime Chunk Pickles, canned and processed

Each kettle with brine solution was brought to just under a boil; just to the point where it was too hot to keep one's finger in more than a few seconds. At this point the sugar is dissolved and the brine is ready. The green paste food color is really just an option, but my mother-in-law's green Lime Chunk Pickles were always vibrantly green, so for me this was not to be left out. We added in the food color, about a half teaspoon, until the spoon we were using to stir was no longer visible immersed in the solution. We added the drained cucumbers and stirred them in well and left them overnight.

Next morning I brought the first kettle of cucumbers in the brine to a boil and then allowed them to boil for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I had another of the large kettles with boiling water and the quart canning jars, lids and rings. Once the pickles were cooked, I filled the jars and sealed them, while placing the next kettle to boil. My mother-in-law never used a hot water bath to process these pickles. They would seal and the lids would pop and that was that. I know that these days, everything is supposed to go into a boiling water bath, so I did process them for 10 minutes. In all, the outcome was 15 quarts from the half bushel of cucumbers. Seeing them lined up on the shelves makes me incredibly proud. I am very glad to have been a part of it and finally learn how to make them properly. It may well be years before I do that again. At least in that quantity. I think I would stick to a peck of cucumbers in future. They sure are pretty though. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.