12/12/2016
Hi all,
Here is Shelagh Martell's APPLE BUTTER recipe as promised.
Thanks Shelagh and happy preserving everyone!
Apple butter is spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and lemon. There is no butter in apple butter!
Makes 6-8 large jars (appx 450g?)
4 lbs (1.8 kg) cooking apples (here that would be Granny Smiths or similar tart apples)
1 cup (225 ml) apple cider vinegar
2 cups (450 ml) water
Sugar (about 4 cups (800 g) see cooking instructions)
Salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
Preparing the fruit
Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavour in the peels). Cut out damaged parts.
First Stage of Cooking
Put them into a large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Measure out the purée and add the sugar and spices
Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve (or foodmill) and using a pestle or the back of a wooden spoon force the pulp from the chinois into a large bowl. Measure resulting purée. Add ½ cup (100 g) sugar for each cup of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add a dash of salt and the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Second Stage of Cooking
Cook uncovered in a large, wide, thick-bottomed pan on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust is not forming at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth (about 1 to 2 hours). A small bit spooned onto a chilled (in the freezer) plate will be thick, not runny. You can also cook the purée on low heat, stirring only occasionally, but this will take much longer as stirring encourages evaporation. (Note: the wider the pan the better as there is more surface for evaporation.)
Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal.
