16 cup apple puree
1 cup apple cider
4 cup sugar, granulated
4 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
Directions
This same recipe can be used to make apple, grape, peach, pear or
plum butters. In general use 1 cup fruit pulp to 1/2 cup sugar.
Spice to taste and cook slowly. To make apple butter, use tart
cooking apples, not the sweet eating varieties. If sweet apples are
all you have to use, reduce the sugar by 1/3 to 1/2.
Wash, quarter and core the unpeeled fruit. Place in a heavy
kettle with just enough water to prevent scorching. Cook until soft,
stirring frequently, and press through a food mill. Mix ingredients
in a heavy kettle and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until
thick. When ready, a spoonful put on a plate should hold its shape
and not 'weep' liquid around the edges of the mound after sitting for
five minutes. This usually takes about two hours of cooking but can
take as long as four, so plan this project for a day when you have
other things to do in the kitchen. Don't try and hurry the process as
the mixture can easily burn and burned apple butter is only good for
the compost pile. Stir frequently, and if possible use a 'heat
difuser' between the burner and the kettle.
Oven Method: Cook the fruit butter in a roasting pan in a 250 -
300 F. oven until thick; may take 6 to 8 hours. Stir occasionally.
It needs less stirring this way but uses take much more energy and
can be awkward to stir.
Crockpot Method: Put ingredients in crockpot and cook, uncovered,
for about 12 hours, stirring occasionally, until it passes the test
given above.
When finished, pack into jars per standard canning methods and
process pints 5 minutes or quarts 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Adapted from 12 Months Harvest, Ortho Books, by Linda Shogren
Servings: 10 servings
Apple Butter/3 Methods Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Apple; Crock Pot; Crockpot; Fruit
The History of Recipes
Academics have tracked the existence of recipes far back into antiquity, in truth as far as early Egypt, and possibly even further. Interesting though that is, these, old cook books were just simple hieroglyphic recipes for preparing food.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to experts in ancient history are some stone tablets in Sumerian which recount the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel `wonderful`. As our culinary historical trip moves to more modern times we find two interesting cookery books which appeared in the 1300s - a book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these are nothing to do with the indian curry that appears on menues today, but rather descriptions of the types of food cooked for the rich people of those days. Over the next few centuries, the powerful and rich houses tried to lay on the most exotic meals, and as a consequence, chefs and their recipes increased in prestige. However, it wasn`t until the 1800s that fine cooking and recipe publications became really popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated their lives to assembling, verifying, and writing down popular recipes of the day. The introduction of television gave us celebrity chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everybody to search through thousands of recipes just like those on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Apple Butter_3 Methods recipe.
