Apple Butter

It’s hard to find any apple butter, let alone good apple butter in the grocery store these days. Making apple butter is a great way to preserve the fruits of an apple harvest.

In contrast to what the name implies, there is no “butter” in apple butter. The name comes from its smooth and buttery texture.

Apple butter is delicious on buttered toast. Although apple butter takes time to make (the sauce is slow cooked for at least an hour), the upfront part is easy. You do not have to peel or core the apples.

The pectin for firming up the resulting jam resides mostly in the cores and there is a lot of flavor in the apple peels. After the first cooking, these parts get discarded as the pulp is run through a food mill.

This recipe produces a classic apple butter, both sweet and tart, the addition of cider vinegar just intensifying the flavor and giving it its tangy edge. It’s seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and lemon.

Apple Butter Recipe

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

Equipment Needed

• 1 wide 8-quart pan (Stainless steel or copper with stainless steel lining)
• A food mill or a chinois sieve
• A large (8 cup) measuring cup pourer
• 6-8 8-ounce canning jars

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