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South Hill, Virginia

This the recipe we used for Apple Butter though there are about a jillion of them out there on the web. I've trying some from one of those "easy oven methods" and I didn't like it very much.

The recipe is from an old Mennonite cookbook but we had to cut it in half so it would fit in our pot. I'm sure you could cut it down to fit whatever pot you have but here it is exactly as we made it.

10 gallons sweet apple cider
1 bushel apples (we used Rome because they come in late here and are nice for cooking. any cooking apple would probably work)
7 LBS sugar
season to taste (we used 3 TBL cinnamon but some recipes call for allspice and cloves too)

Add the 10 gallons of cider to a 20 gallon pot and heat over an open fire stirring constantly. Once the cider is boiling begin adding the apples (peeled, cored and cut up of course). Now you can just stir and stir and stir for the next 5 hours keeping the fire hot enough to keep mixture boiling. When you've cooked it down to around half of it's original volume dip out about a gallon or so of the mixture, dissolve the sugar in it and add it back to the pot. Cook until you get the desired consistency (about another hour) and then add seasonings right before taking it off the fire. You should end up with 4-5 gallons of apple butter. Consistency can be checked by putting a small spoonful on a plate and letting it cool. Ladle into canning jars and seal.

I've posted a couple of pictures of this in my growers diary.

12/1/2004 2:04:33 PM