A couple weeks ago we made apple butter! Lots of it.The bf came home from a fall-themed photoshoot with a bushel of apples (who knows what a bushel is but it was probably about that many) and I'd been reading all these martha-esque blogs about growing and canning your own food. I was inspired!
It took a little while to cut up all the apples, and figure out appropriate measures of cider, sugar, and spices to boil them down with. (We mostly followed the recipe here, but all of the recipes seem to have the same basic ingredients.) After the apples got nice and mushy, we blended the mixture and continued to boil it down.
When the consistency thickened to the point that a spoonful dropped on a plate could be divided into two parts (without seeping back together), we deemed it ready for canning. I have always thought of canning as a stressful process, but the bf was a huge help. With two people, it was incredibly easy!
Don't you love the deep, glowing color the apple butter takes on in the jars? We only had one lid that did not pop, but I am happy to have that jar in the fridge ready to be eaten. We already tested a little bit on toast! It tastes like coming in from a crisp autumn days to sit beside a crackling fireplace. Amazing!
