What is Apple Butter? Well there’s no actual butter in it, but the name-tag refers to the texture of this gently spiced smooth and spreadable apple preserve. I first came across it because my mum, Women’s Institute preserving guru, has always made it. A jar would appear on the table to enjoy with sausages or roast pork, but it’s also good in a sandwich with ham or simply spread on a slice of hot buttered toast.
The lovely team at Lakeland sent me a whole host of preserving goodies over the summer, and now the boys are safely deposited back at school i’ve got the freedom to give them a whirl.
Spurred on by a bucketful of apples from the in-law’s garden, I had a nosy through the 500 recipes in the Ball Guide to Preserving, and decided to give Apple Butter a try. There are so few ingredients – apples, water, sugar and spices – but the main faff is peeling, coring and chopping. That’s the trouble with a glut from the garden, you need to surrender yourself to a few hours of processing it all. My approach is to stick on the Woman’s Hour podcast and try and catch up on all the episodes i’ve missed over the holidays.
The American method of preserving, or canning as it is described over there, is to process the filled jars either in a hot water bath or pressure cooker to destroy any nasties that might cause the food to spoil. High-acid foods like fruit and tomatoes are suited to the hot water bath method, while low-acid foods like most vegetables are processed in the pressure cooker. I wonder what my mum will make of this American approach?
I have to confess the main reason I wanted to try the American kit was because of the unbelievably pretty jars with their quilted pattern on the glass. They’re the most pleasing jars i’ve ever clapped my eyes on. There’s even a special place marked out to stick the labels. Perfection. I bought a few boxes when we visited California last year, so I was ridiculously excited when they appeared in the Lakeland catalogue. Excitement over jam jars. Yep, it’s a thing for me.
Anyway why not get hold of some of these jars now you can get them at Lakeland and make a batch of Apple Butter and keep it stashed away to give as Christmas gifts. I’m going to start a little collection of preserves over the coming months so I can put little hampers together this season.
Apple Butter
recipe adapted from Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving Metric Edition
Prep time: approx 1 hour (depending on how quick you can peel and chop!)
Cooking time: 30-40 mins
Makes: approx 7 x 240ml jars
Ingredients
1.8 kg apples
480 ml water
900g sugar (mixture of granulated and soft brown sugar for a toffee nutty finish)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
Instructions
1. Peel each apple, cut into quarters and remove the core and pop into a pan with the water.
2. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid and cook until soft. Remove from the heat and blitz to a smooth pulp with stick blender. You should have approx 2 litres of pulp, I had a bit less but it didn’t seem to affect the result.
3. Stir in the sugar and spices until the sugar dissolves and then rerun to a medium heat and let the mixture gently bubble away, stirring fairly regularly to stop it from sticking. The colour should turn a pleasing toffee apple shade, and it should gradually thicken.
4. Meanwhile wash your jars with hot soapy water, rinse with hot clean water and then air dry in a warm oven.
5. The apple butter is ready once you are able to pile the mixture up on a spoon. If you dolloped a little on a saucer there would be no separation of liquid from fruit. At this stage I removed the cloves using a slotted spoon to skim around for them.
6. Lay out your jars on a tray and have a funnel on hand for splash-free pouring. Pour the hot mixture into each jar, leaving a quarter of an inch gap at the top. Clean the rim of the jar and then put the lids on top followed by the screw lid.
7. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, lower your rack of jars in, making sure the lids are 2.5 cm under the surface and boil for 10 minutes with the lid on. Turn off the heat, remove the lid and allow to cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the water and allow to cool completely. Check the seals, label and store jars in a dry cool dark cupboard.
Disclosure: Thanks to Lakeland for sending me the Ball Preserving Kit. I have not been paid to write this blog post and all views are my own.
I’m entering these pretty jars of Apple Butter into the following linkys…
United Cakedom is running a special one-off apple themed event – there are some lush recipes gathering already so go check it out>>>
I also thought the thrifty nature of the ingredients and the gifting potential would make my apple butter a prime candidate for Credit Crunch Munch, Camilla and Helen’s event, this month hosted by Helen on the ever brilliant Fuss Free Flavours
This looks gorgeous and perfect for halloween and bonfire season! I really want to make my own jam this year but think this is a lovely alternative.
Thanks for dropping by to comment Samantha and for your lovely words about my Apple Butter… it’s something just a little bit different and so makes a great gift or end of term gift for teachers 🙂 Hope we can meet soon btw!
I love those jars too Katie, just gorgeous! I bet this apple butter would be good with halloumi.
You’re SO right Jac… definitely going to try that out!
Oooh, this would make a great Christmas present for my family.
Thanks Bintu… yes that’s what i’ve got planned too 🙂
I’ve heard of apple butter a lot but have never tried it – and definitely didn’t know it was so easy to make! Looks delicious.
You SO have to give it a go Becca!
I hadn’t heard of apple butter until a Texan friend brought a homemade jar over. It was wonderful! I’ve wanted to try making my own ever since so thanks very much for the recipe!
You’re welcome Emily… it’s so delicious it’s definitely worth making a batch!
Gosh I’ve got so many Bramley’s to use up I could do with this kit – the jars are so, so pretty, too!
The jars are just SO pretty Ren… I’m going to make bramble jelly next 🙂
This is so lovely, I now know what to do with all those Bramleys!
Aw thanks Laura… it’s such a lovely recipe for using up the mountain of apples at this time of year. Hope all is well with you and the family 🙂
Your apple butter looks delicious Katie and I love the jars. I’ve got a big American pressure cooker that I use every year for canning, I’m so pleased to see the jars are available from Lakeland now.
Thanks Sarah… the jars are super cute aren’t they… i’ve nearly used my stash all up up now so will be heading to Lakeland soon to restock my supplies… I’m SUCH a jar freak!
I’m having jam jar envy!!
I’ve always wondered what apple butter was – it’s one of those things that gets mentioned in American kids books. Thanks for enlightening me. I might even have a go at making some 🙂
Lol glad to be of service Helen!
Home made preserves are so much nicer and it is so satisfying to fill up the larder. We love apple butter on porridge thoughout the winter . Thanks for sharing with #creditcrunchmunch
Oooh that’s a lovely idea Helen, will have to try that on my porridge this winter 🙂
Hi Katie
Hello from down under – Australia.
I have given away most of my home grown apples to family and friends ( from 1 lonesome tree in the backyard) and now with around 80 of ’em left I want to make a Jam. I had previously made Apple Jam using Cider. However, coming across your recipe – I am going to make Apple Butter instead.
I need help with the last sentence of point 6 above:
“Clean the rim of the jar and then put the lids on top followed by the screw lid.”.
The bottles I have access to do not have a ‘lid’, but just a screw on lid. Will this affect the process?
Also, what does following point 7 achieve ? namely:
“Bring a large pan of water to the boil, lower your rack of jars in, making sure the lids are 2.5 cm under the surface and boil for 10 minutes with the lid on. Turn off the heat, remove the lid and allow to cool for 5 minutes”
Will not the condensation on the lids (droplets of water), fall into the jam?
Am so sorry if I sound dumb here. Your advice please.
Many Thanks
Yeolanda
Hi Yeolanda and thanks for visiting my blog. To answer your questions it’s fine to use a simple screw on lid as long as it’s clean and tightly sealed. In terms of boiling the jars, I only ever did that once – I think it’s the American way of preserving which I was trying out at the time. I don’t bother doing that now!