Making Apple Butter

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My Gravenstein apple tree was full of apples this year. Sadly I did not take advantage of as many as I could. I have an issue.. we don’t eat applesauce (I buy fresh fruit, which is preferred by my family) and the apples are way too small to be made into apple pie filling .. so what to do? I wanted to take advantage of some of them and the deer will enjoy the rest of them. I ended up making apple butter. I know we will eat that and I have enough jars now to give away as well. A few days ago my daughter Leanne and I picked about 25 pounds of apples. I turned them into some delicious apple butter!

I began by searching for a recipe for apple butter. I found one that looked pretty good: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/  I ended up using 20#’s of apples which was 5 times the recipe.

I cut the apples in half and discarded bruised areas and such. I put them in a big pot with the water and apple cider vinegar called for in the recipe. I put this all in my big canning pot and let it cook for about a half hour..



I then pulled out my Victorio Strainer. I have had this for years. I love this thing!! I have used it in the past for applesauce (when my kids were young and they ate it! ), pumpkin puree, and tomato puree.. It saves tons of time!


You put your cooked apples skins, core, and all into the large funnel, crank the handle and out comes apple sauce on one side and the skins, cores on the other…







After I ran my cooked apples through the strainer I had 30 cups of sauce. The recipe states adding a ½ cup sugar for each cup of sauce. I added the sugar and spices called for and let it come to a boil and reduced the heat and let it simmer for a very long time.





By the time I had gotten to this point it was late at night and I turned it on the lowest setting and let it simmer all night long. By morning it had cooked down, but not enough. So I upped the heat and let it continue to cook until I felt it was done (according to the directions in the recipe)…
At this point it was time to start canning. I washed and sterilized several jars. I had everything from 8oz, 10oz, and 12oz to 16oz jars. I ended up with 16 jars of sauce…



With enough left over to partially fill another jar and we have been enjoying that one currently. 

The Victorio Strainer.....

Comments

  1. MandiSeptember 11, 2012 at 3:09 AM

    You can also make it in a crockpot. Just leave the lid on sideways so that the steam can escape. I find this easier so I don't have to worry about scorching.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BelindaSeptember 11, 2012 at 3:35 AM

    Yes, The crockpot works wonders with apple butter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CherylSeptember 11, 2012 at 4:00 AM

    I also use the crock pot for my apple butter. The last two years we have turned our apples into cider and then canned it.

    Have a wonderful day.

    ~Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  4. CrystalSeptember 11, 2012 at 3:36 PM

    Thank you all for the info.. I was aware you could make it in the crockpot.. but my crockpot could not hold 20# of applesauce.. LOL.. so I chose this way to make it. Another lady on my FaceBook page said she did it in her roaster oven.. I may try that next time and see how it goes.

    Crystal :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Red Brick FarmhouseSeptember 12, 2012 at 11:11 AM

    Mmmmmm.......there is nothing better than homemade apple butter!

    I have never made it in the crockpot. I think I'll stick to the same way I've been doing it for years, on the stove or over the fire!

    Blessings!
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  6. aimeeSeptember 13, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    Yum! I LOVE apple butter:)
    Blessings,
    Aimee

    ReplyDelete

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