Apple Butter

I've been eager to make apple butter since I bought a few ginger gold apples at the farmers' market a few weeks ago (when I was looking for a cantaloupe and came home with 20 lbs of tomatoes, a dozen ears of corn, a watermelon, etc.) and when I heard a news story on the radio last week saying that apples are early this year, so now is the time to buy - before they're gone - I figured I better get my act together.

My recipe for apple butter requires 13 hours of cooking in a crock pot, which means I need to do some planning. Last year I portioned out the finished apple butter in the morning before heading off to my student teaching assignment. I think I had to get up at 4 to make that work. Tomorrow I'll have to be up by about 6 to make sure my apple butter doesn't burn. I think I can handle it.

I tried to recruit help for making apple butter, but my little sister is visiting our other sister, and I couldn't get ahold of my friend of 25 years who graciously offered to lend a hand. While it pays off in the end, apple butter is a lot of work up front. Especially when you've already been chopping and peeling all day.

Start with five and half pounds of apples:
Core, peel, and dice them:
Watch your hands get pruny from the juice and wonder how there can still be so many apples left:
Look at the pile of apples still waiting to be chopped, and wonder if you are going to need another garbage bowl:
Watch the apples pile up in the bottom of the crock pot, but wonder if you're chopping them small enough:
Continue to core, peel, and chop:
Forget about your garbage bowl - are these apples going to fit in the crock pot?
Finally . . . over an hour later . . . the end is in sight:


Add four cups of sugar, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of cloves and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Stir carefully. Cook on high for an hour, then turn the heat down to low and simmer 9 - 11 hours - stirring occasionally, and then frequently towards the end. Enjoy the yummy fall scent of cinnamon and apple.
Cook for one additional hour on high heat with the lid off. Portion into sterile containers. Cool and refrigerate some, and freeze the rest. (The Ball Blue Book has a recipe for apple butter that can be canned . . . I have enough apples left to make it, but I don't have enough of the right size of jars at the moment.)

Stop buying flavored yogurt that is full of artificial colors and flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and other chemical additives, and add a couple of heaping spoonfuls of apple butter to plain (organic, if your store carries it - mine doesn't) yogurt instead.

My next batch will probably incorporate maple syrup or honey instead of some or all of the sugar (unless I use the Ball recipe and can it instead of freezing it . . . you know how I feel about messing with canning recipes).