Table of Content
You will likely hear little “pop” sounds from the jars as they cool off; this is a good sign, indicating that the jars are sealing. This recipe calls for six pounds of peeled, cored, quartered apples. It is difficult to account for how much your fresh apples will weigh after you prepare them. A good kitchen scale will help take the guesswork out of this, so you use the exact amount of apples the recipe calls for. Apple butter, as indicated earlier, can be messy. You’ll need a small towel or cloth to wipe off the rims of jars as you’re packing them all.
Unpeeled apples could possibly alter the processing time and food safety so it is generally recommended that you peel them. Apple butter recipes don't have to mean sweet, use a bit of homemade apple butter to season fresh chicken for a savory apple butter recipe. I’ve purposely not listed the recipes from the Ball Canning Books, which suggest adding a cup of sugar for every pound of fruit . That actually works out to more like 2 cups of sugar to every cup of apple puree, which is way more sugar than I put in even the sweetest jams. Slow cooking is key, that’s what’s going to allow those sugars to slowly caramelize without burning. At this point in history, sugar mostly in the form of honey was expensive and a taste of something naturally sweet was a real treat.
Yo, I’m Sarah Cook
You can use it in many different ways, similar to jams and preserves. Add it to toast, baked goods, or even experiment with it with our Sweet Potatoes with Apple Butter recipe. I’ve adjusted things since then , but the recipe itself is great. Will I have any proceeding it in the shelf??
The sweetness will be all about the type of apples and any sweetener you add. For any apple butter recipe, the apple peeler-corer-slicer comes in handy. (For my video review, click here.) If you do not have one of these, just prepare your apples the old-fashioned way, with a knife. If you do this with a knife, chop your apples up small. Process jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
What Are Fruit Butters Anyway?
You want to minimize it because extra air in the jars can allow mold to grow. That said, it takes A LOT of extra headspaces to make that happen. I’m talking like an inch of headspace when something’s supposed to have 1/4. Even still, if that happens, you’ll see it. It’s one thing to tell you how to make homemade apple butter, but the real question is how to use it.
If you like a perky apple butter, just 5–10 minutes will do. If you like your apple butter to have a dark rich flavor, cook it for 15–20 minutes. Cook the apple butter just long enough to melt the sugar, intensify the spices, and thicken the apple butter to your desired consistency. When the jars have cooled, press the center of each lid to check the seal. If the dip in the lid holds, the jar is sealed.
Coring, Peeling and Quartering the Apples
Be sure to stir it at least every 5-10 minutes, and a stovetop apple butter will be ready in about 3 hours . I started with 5 pounds, but I’m pretty sure my oval crockpot could have held more like 10 pounds of apples and yielded considerably more apple butter. Making apple butter is all about low, slow cooking. If someone asks you how to make apple butter, don’t bother answering if they’re not patient. It’s a fun little test, maybe just pause 15 seconds before answering, and if they can’t handle the suspense…tell them this is not a recipe for them. Since apples are high acid fruits, canning them, especially water bath canning, suits them well.
You know it’s fall when you can smell the apples simmering in the pot. Canning apples doesn’t take much expertise, and the benefits are enormous. Toni, generally altitudes above 6,000 feet recommend that you triple the processing time for half-pints and pints and double the processing time for quarts.
Rinse your apples in the colander under cool water once you are done. When my step dad and mom got married, he had store bought apple butter. During apple butter season, he asked why we spent so much time making apple butter that we could buy at the store. He pulled the jar out of the pantry and I stared in disbelief. I had no idea you could buy apple butter from the store.
It should be thick enough to hold its shape on the spoon. I’ve scrolled up and down several times. I see the picture with the caption “HOW TO MAKE APPLE BUTTER, WITH CANNING INSTRUCTIONS.” But I do not see the printable recipe. The thing is, they’re a low acid food so you wouldn’t be able to can it. It’d have to be made and stored in the refrigerator for use within a few weeks.
Wiping the rims will help ensure that the lids rest properly on them, so that they will seal. Now, let’s look at the equipment you’ll need in your kitchen to make and store your apple butter. Using different varieties of the same fruits can give your fruit butters vastly different flavors, too, so no jar ever has to taste the same. Harder fruits, like apples, pears, and peaches, are great candidates for fruit butter. They are readily available and inexpensive, so you’ll be able to can them in bulk, and fill your pantry with these fruit butters whenever they’re in season.
Of batter, swirling the pan so the batter coats the edges. Add flour mixture to bowl with the milk mixture and mix well. We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur Emily, home cook Rinku, and professional chef Dalia David - to make us their best samosa recipe.
If you run out of time like me, then put the apple butter in the fridge overnight and reheat it the next day before canning it. First fill the sink with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar. When fall rolls around, it’s apple butter time. After getting married, I wanted to make my own apple butter.
Apples are naturally high acid fruits, with a pH somewhere between 3.2 and 4.0. That means they’re just fine for water bath canning without any added acid. Sugar is also optional, and it’s only added to apple butter canning recipes for flavor, not safety. These days, apple butter is often made at home using shortcut methods that take a lot less time. The addition of brown sugar isn’t traditional, but it does save a lot of time in the canning kitchen.
While they are not essential, they can help make the entire canning process easier, and also save you a great deal of time. Make sure you have a timer to keep track of how long everything is boiling at various steps of this recipe. They are great additions to your homestead’s pantry, since their unique texture makes them quite different than jams and jellies. Additionally, since they are hardly ever available at grocery stores, they are a great item to sell at your local farmers market. Jennifer and I started making apple butter on Friday evening after she got off of work. Uncover and cook on low for an hour longer.
You answered all of the questions I had after reading other recipes I have come across on the internet. My crockpot apple butter made with 5 pounds of apples took about 30 hours, mostly on “low” but I turned it down to “keep warm” overnight as a safety precaution. Copper kettles and low cooking fires are largely a thing of the past, but slow cookers are in just about every kitchen these days. No need to spend hours tending the fire and endlessly stirring when a slow cooker actually cooks even slower than the old-fashioned method. I’m going to take you through the best way to make traditional slow-cooked apple butter, as well as the basics of canning apple butter at home.
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