# Apple Butter help!



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

DH wants me to make apple butter but I'm getting conflicting reports. Some have told me that apple butter is just applesauce that is cooked until it is really thick and then add spices and puree it until smoth. DH is convinced it has to be made in a copper kettle to get its brown color. 

How do you make your apple butter?

Catherine


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

http://grannysu.blogspot.com/2008/11/apple-butter-start-to-finish-day-one.html

I use a copper kettle and the old-time method learned from my neighbors. There are many ways to do it--some do it in the oven, some in a crockpot, some add red cinnamon candies (gag!)...but basically it really is just applesauce cooked until very thick.

I cook my apples, put them through the Squeezo and then into the copper kettle. My kettle is a 15-gallon one, so it takes 60 quarts of applesauce, or about 3 and a half bushels of apples made into sauce to fill it. 

Once the kettle is full we light a wood fire under it. The kettle has to be on a stand--that's very important. Then stir and cook until it reaches the "plopping" boiling stage (about 2 hours), add sugar, and continue to cook. It just looks like applesauce until the sugar is added, but immediately when you start to stir in the sugar, the color starts to change to brown. Chemical reaction, I suppose. Then we keep stirring with the wooden paddle for another couple of hours. 

Stirring has to be constant or the apple butter will stick. Oh, and you have to put pennies in the kettle--that keeps it from sticking too because the pennies scrape the bottom as you stir. The applebutter is down when it's boiled down to about half of the original volume and will "stand up" if you put it on a cool china plate. At this point you rake the fire out from underneath (don't try to lift your kettle because you could break it) and stir in cinnamon OIL to your taste--for our kettle it's about a bottle and a half (a bottle is one ounce, I think--we get it at the drug store).

Then ladle into jars, clean the tops of the jars, put on the lids, and turn the jars upside down for about 10 minutes. This helps the lids to seal. 

That's it. For my kettle the whole process takes about 8 hours and I end up with 30 quarts of the most incredible biscuit spread you ever tasted.


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

The link is to my blog with photos of when we last made apple butter.


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## catinhat (Aug 26, 2010)

Pennies have zinc in them now - I don't know if it's safe to cook them with an acidic fruit - it could cause some leaching.

I make apple butter in the crock pot or on my stove top. I have always thought that the dark color came from cinnamon, so I learned something new!


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

Granny Sue said:


> The link is to my blog with photos of when we last made apple butter.


Great photos! You made the process look like so much fun ... instead of indoor drudgery.


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

Thank you! It is very much fun, even the time we made it in the snow with the temps in the 20's (our son had been in Iraq so we waited til he got home). 

The comment about pennies is well taken. I might have to dig out my old wheatleaf pennies. Or use silver.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Thanks for the link. That was a fun read. Unfortunately, I don't have that much time without interruptions!! Yikes. I'll have to make smaller batches, but thanks for the clarification. I don't particularly like applebutter, so DH will have to add the cinamon to his taste, and probably the sugar too! But it will be fun to do. Thanks everyone!!
Catherine
OH!!! Can I make this in my crockpot for ease of temp control or does it have to boil?


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## Prickle (May 9, 2009)

I just cook applesauce over low heat until it mounds up on a spoon. The spices make it brown but I also think some of the sugar caramelizes. The crock pot will be fine, leave the lid askew so the steam can escape as the apples cook down.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

I bake mine in the oven in the southern Indiana tradition. I add a few sticks of cinnamon to it about half an hour before it's to come out. Oh my, what a fragrance!


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

Stove top in a big stainless steel cookpot. It comes out fine


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## TJN66 (Aug 29, 2004)

Crockpot here. Turns out nice and brown...yummy stuff on toast!


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Seems there are a number of ways to make apple butter. Thanks everyone for your opinions and recipies. I think I might just try them all out and then pick which one we like the best. I just love these forums that are so helpful!! 
Catherine


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## tallpines (Apr 9, 2003)

Mine has been simmering in the crock pot since late yesterday afternoon.

I'm betting you can smell the delightful aroma all the way to your house!

Will process it shortly.........


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Here is a link that might be helpful.

http://www.pickyourown.org//applebutter.htm

I make my apple butter like that and it turns out great! Tho, some people do feel using a crock pot to make apple butter isn't an "approved" way to do it.


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## Head Roller (Sep 24, 2010)

I just made crabapple butter yesterday. Drained the juice for jelly, then used a strainer to pull all the skins and seed out and put the pulp in a pan with a little sugar and spices and I simmered until it was thick. It is DELICIOUS!!


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

Head Roller said:


> I just made crabapple butter yesterday. Drained the juice for jelly, then used a strainer to pull all the skins and seed out and put the pulp in a pan with a little sugar and spices and I simmered until it was thick. It is DELICIOUS!!


That settles it -- my new backyard tree is going to be a crabapple!


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