Friday, November 09, 2007


Our weather has turned nippy late this year. Usually I start thinking about my fall season jams much sooner than November, but the heat and drought has made it difficult to imagine standing over a hot stove for so many hours.

Apple butter is a long standing tradition in this area. It was made out of doors over a wood fire in a large cast iron cauldron. This technique requires an entire day and much stirring. You have to have very strong arms to keep watch on a 50 gallon tub of bubbling apple butter.

The version I'm sharing with you today can easily be made in the home kitchen and is a festive addition to any holiday table. The red Hots Candy that is dissolved in the mix turns the apple butter a brilliant red. As with all apple butters, constant minding and stirring is key. A few tricks I've picked up since the first time I made this recipe is to run my apples through a food mill first, after steaming them in a colander. The mill will remove the seeds and skins. Another trick some of the old wives employ is to pour the half finished apple butter into a shallow baking or cake pan and finish in the oven. This preserves the color and keeps the apple butter from scorching.

Whatever you do, be careful of the bubbling hot mixture...this jam tends to bubble up and spatter easily. You will notice, if you have never made apple butter from scratch, that the texture is much more like a jam than the apple butter you buy in the store. Apples have lots of pectin in them, so really, those store bought apple butters are really more of a spiced thick apple sauce. Real apple butter has body and holds its shape when you spoon it out of the jar.


Red Hots Apple Butter

4 qt. sweet apple cider
3 qt. pared and quartered
cooking apples (about 4 lb.)
2 c. light brown sugar
1 pound Red Hots Candy
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Heat cider to boiling in 5 quart Dutch oven. Boil, uncovered, until cider measures 2 quarts, about 1 1/4 hours. Add apples. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until apples are soft and can be broken apart with spoon, about 1 hour. (Apples can be pressed through sieve or food mill at this point for smooth apple butter.) Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until no liquid separates from pulp, about 2 hours. Heat to boiling. Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars. Seal and process in boiling water bath 10 minutes.

2 Comments:

  1. Nancy said...
    Yummmmmm

    My great grandma and grandma and mom used to make apple butter...

    I don't know why I never have!

    I may have to try it this year.
    belledame222 said...
    oh, wow. i have had bad experiences with apple butter, and i've never liked red hots; but that just looks so -pretty,- it whets m'appetite.

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