One of my very favorite autumn chores is making Apple Butter. I have been doing it for a few years now and I really enjoy the process.
This year I used wormy apples that I got off my in-laws tree. They didn’t spray this year (yay!) and about half the apples on the tree had worms. The non-wormy ones are tucked away in my “root cellar” (ok, really just a dark cool room in my basement) and will be used for general eating. The other half do have worms in them, but that is no reason to throw them away, they are perfectly good once the bad parts have been cut out.
I cut and pealed about a half a bushel, cutting away all the bad parts.
Then I sliced them really thin into a bowl of lemon water, I didn’t want them to brown too much that is why I used lemon water.
Once they were all sliced I loaded them into my crock pot and added sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. There are no special measurements, just whatever sounds yummy to you.
I cooked them on low for about 12 hours overnight. When we woke up in the morning the house smelled wonderful! I served the hot apple butter on Old English Scones for breakfast. The rest I bottled for later use.
I throw away wormy fruit LOL
I have no patience for things like that.
I have 95% wormy apples, but they were free!
Yummy! That looks great!
Something I haven't been able to do yet, but I hope soon we'll be able to find some apples.
Blessings, Fine Linen
I did that yesterday with some apples we had. I love apple butter but since we don't have apple trees here I have never made it.
It made 4 1/2 pints the 1/2 I just put in the fridge for use now the other I just canned up.
It was so yummy on hot homemade bread for lunch today.
Erika
I love making apple butter but did not make any this year. I suppose it is not too late…
I foolowed your example and made apple butter last year. I still have so much that I won't need to do it this year…but I will sure miss the way it smells while cooking!
Yum, apple butter!!!
One question—does it matter what type apple you use?
Blessings, Aimee
We didn't get any fruit this year due to a late freeze but I am hoping to try apple butter in the crock pot the next time I make it. Please let us know if the type of apple matters.
I am sure a purest would say that you should use a "cooking" type apple. However, I am not a purest and I just use what ever apple I can get either free or for very cheap 🙂
the apple butter sounds DELISH..do you add butter to it? i think that would carmelize a bit? and this hasn't been the first time you've mentioned the "root cellar"…what do you mean by a cool room in your basement? do you keep it at a certain temp? is it walled off from other parts of the basement? i'm assuming that it's dark? did you do anything special to it or is it just walled off with studs and plank walls? how long does the food usually last down there like that? i have a pretty cool basement, and i'm in michigan, where the ground freezes for a good 6 months of the year and it stays pretty cool the rest of the time so i'm wondering if i'd be able to "make" a root cellar too…
Aimee – you are so ahead of me! I haven't even gotten my apples yet and I'm down to only one jar left of apple butter! I've got to get myself in gear!
I just stumbled onto your site through your potato canning post and I've spent the last hour in your archives! I love your site and tips, thanks for sharing!!