Every year I enter all
sorts of baked, canned, and even sewing items in the Piedmont Interstate Fair,
here in South Carolina.
I win lots of blue ribbons that I am very proud of. One of the most
challenging things to enter is my Apple Butter. I am up against six counties
of southern women....and if they knew that a Yankee girl was beating them out
of first place in Apple Butter, they'd probably kill me! Now I want to share
that recipe, and maybe a few others, with you. This is my own recipe with
years of trial and error behind it.
about 30 apples, pared
and quartered (hard apples)
4 cups of apple cider
5 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground
cloves
2 teaspoons ground
ginger
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon ground
nutmeg
1 whole cinnamon stick,
about 3 inches long, or so
Directions
Prepare spices and sugar,
blend well, and set aside. Boil prepared apples with the apple cider until
tender. Put boiled apples, with the cider, through a blender, set on puree
setting. Do not drain the cider from the apples. When all of the apple and
cider mixture is blended, return the mixture to the stove on just below medium
heat. At this point you can add the sugar and spice mixture to the apple and
cider mixture. Stir in well and add whole cinnamon stick. Let boil until
desired thickness, which could be anywhere from 4 - 7 hours.
A way to keep a
check on the thickness is to spoon a small amount on a saucer and see how much
liquid seeps from it as it cools. You should see next to no seepage when the
apple butter is thick enough. You can stir the apple butter often, but it
isn't necessary to keep a constant stirring...you do have a life! At this
point I like to go ahead and sterilize my jars. It's best to do this in a
dishwasher, but if you don't have one, the old fashioned 'boiling'
method is fine.
And this is an important note...as much as we are tempted to
do so, do not double the recipe...it just won't work well. I usually have
several pots of apple butter going at once. While the mixture is boiling down,
it's been my experience that you will want to place a splatter screen on top
of the pot. That stuff is like lava when it boils and it will get everywhere.
It's also a good idea to wear an oven mitt when you stir it, trust me, I have
scars on my hands.
When it comes close to
time for the apple butter to be placed into the jars, boil some screw-bands
and dome lids in some water. Once the apple butter is at the desired
thickness, you can then combine several mixtures together to keep hot and to
free up some space on your stove. I believe that at least two pots of apple
butter gives me about 10 or 11 pint jars. It varies. Prepare the apple butter
in the jars and place them in the hot water bath for about 10 minutes. Let
them cool in a draft free area...clean up, go to bed, make biscuits in the
morning. I always like to make home made bread the day I make apple
butter...it is so worth it!
