Apple Butter

Apple butter is essentially a thicker and spicier version of applesauce. Making apple butter is time consuming but well worth the effort. Be sure you start out with a good applesauce.

Apple Butter is created by slow-cooking apples until the sugar caramelizes and the apples take on the consistency of butter. Apple butter gets its name from the thick consistency and also that it is commonly spread on bread, there is no butter in apple butter. You can make your own apple butter or you can buy it pre-prepared at the grocery store.

Common spices used when preparing apple butter are allspice, cinnamon and cloves.

In colonial days making apple butter was a family event and prepared in large kettles. Family members took turns using paddles to stir the apple butter while it cooked.

Ingredients:

6 pounds unpeeled apples

6 cups apple cider or apple juice

3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Core and quarter the unpeeled apples and cook with the apple cider in a large pan until the apples are soft. Press this mixture through a food mill and boil gently.

Stir in the sugar, the ground cinnamon, and the cloves. Cook and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Boil gently until the desired thickness. Pour the apple mixture into hot 1/2 pint jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.