Apple butter.
Not exactly butter, it isn’t quite jam, something deliciously in between. And the perfect way to use up that haul you brought home from the orchard.
- First you’ll need to chop up your apples – about 4 lbs of them. Don’t worry about peeling or coring them; a lot of the fruits natural pectin is found here so getting rid of these would leave you with a different consistency. Quarter them then cook them in 2 cups of water until soft, about half an hour.
- Puree the apples (plus the water they cooked in). I used my immersion blender so that I didn’t have to transfer the apples out of the pot into another container (even though I did this anyway in the next step).
- Strain out the seeds and skin. I found a simple sieve over the pot worked just fine. You’ll have to stir the puree around a bit and push it against the sides to really make sure you get all the usable puree.
- Add about 1/2 cup of sugar per cup of puree. I added 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar to mine. Add in 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp ground cloves.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. This can take between 1-2 hours for the apples to reduce and cook down to the consistency you want. You need to stir frequently as this promotes evaporation but also prevents your apple butter from burning. So let it cook. And stir. And let it cook some more. And stir. Repeat.
- Once you’ve gotten it to the consistency you want, allow it to cool before transferring it into jars.
- There is a proper way to jar your butter, sterilizing your jars etc etc but to be honest I just put mine into jars that I’ve used before and made sure I gave them a good wash before filling. I’m devoured my apple butter ASAP (and gave some away to family and friends) so I didn’t bother to do the proper preserving method.
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