Made (well, making) apple butter from unripe apples

[applestar]

My Enterprise fruited well this year and they are mostly racketball~billiardball size right now. Even after June drop, there are quite a few apples that are touching or blemished and need to be thinned out. But miserly me, I didn't want to go and cut them off without knowing that I could do SOMETHING with them!

Yesterday, I took a double handful and decided to try making applebutter. I soaked them overnight in salty water -- it's not in any recipe but soaking for an hour or so in cold water IS part of Plum Wine recipe for making liquor out of unripe plums, so I thought, "Why not?"

Now the apples have been cooked and milled and are cooking down with organic evaporated cane juice sugar, light brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, cloves, and sea salt. Smells DELICIOUS. I hope it turns out as good as it smells. If this works, I'm going to go over the entire tree. I know you're really supposed to thin them while their "marble size" but this way is much more fun!

10:46pm -- came back to add: MMMMmmm!!! After pouring into refrigerator jars (ended up with 3C of applebutter) thoroughly wiped what was left in the pot with croissants with the kids. Dandy bedtime snack! Guess I'll be making that BIG BATCH soon! I'll hot water process those so they'll keep.

[Pebbles]

applestar

That sounds delicious!

Never heard of apple butter here. Whenever I read one of your posts, it always reminds me of that lovely film 'baby boom' where she inherited a baby from a family member. She decided to keep baby and move to the countryside and owned an orchard. She made tons of apple sauce. Fantastic film.

I can't say that I might try making it in the near future, but should you have a spare few minutes, any chance of writing the recipe and what to do - I am sure my mother would love it

[Earl K]

I second that on the recipe even if I have to buy the apples.Sounds great Especially on the croissants-I'm like a kid myself

[applestar]

Alright, awRIGHT!

Not much of a "recipe" -- I can never be a professional chef because I keep tweaking recipes and they're never the same twice! But here are my notes:

--
Applestar's Applebutter Recipe Notes (Jul. 30, 2009)

Soak unripe apples overnight in salty water.
Rinse/scrub, cut up and core (remove seeds), and put in non-reactive saucepan. Add water to top of apples (keep in mind apples will float)
Boil/simmer (careful! this WILL scorch) 2~3 hours until soft, adding water as necessary (some people use a crock pot)
Add water, roughly chop up in the pot, stir well and simmer another 1 hour.
Foodmill with medium holes.

To 2C of milled apples, add 1C org. evaporated cane juice sugar, 1/2C org. light brown sugar, 1Tbs unsulfered org. molasses, 2 tsp Apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 pinch ground cloves, 1 pinch ground allspice, 1/8 tsp salt
(Optional -- grated or slivered orange zest, or sugar preserved orange zest, about 4 2" pieces)

Simmer/reduce until all wateriness is gone (1~2 hrs)

Remove from heat. Spoon into clean heat-proof jars and refrigerate or freeze or process/can.

--

We've been eating it with peanut butter in sandwiches too. Very yummy.

p.s. Thanks Pebbles, for the movie reference. I take that as a compliment. Now if I only had the business savvy like her.... Diane Keaton is also one of my favorite actresses.

[Earl K]

Thank you much,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[cynthia_h]

What?! No apple-cider vinegar???

Gotta dig up my apple-butter recipe.

"What is apple butter?" => It's a spread for breads, rolls, etc. It's thicker than a jelly, perhaps has the resistance to a knife of well-done jam, but with a homogeneous texture. Apple butter, esp., is known for its spices.

I've also purchased and eaten pumpkin butter, maple butter (OMG), and made peach/nectarine butter. That was the year when DH and I picked for ourselves in the east county orchards (when they were still growing fruit and not houses which later went into foreclosure ).

I like apple butter (and the others) on toast, either with a scant amount of regular unsalted butter or just by themselves on that piece of toast.

Cynthia, Foodie Hat On

[Pebbles]

Thanks ever so much applestar for taking the time to write out the recipe.

I wonder if I could use some on my plate next to a piece of pork?

I just might watch 'baby boom' again - it really was a lovely film. I also liked Diane in 'father of the bride' with Steve Martin.

Thanks again...

Cynthia, Peach and Nectarine butter sounds good. Would it be the same process as applestar's but obviously using the different fruit?

Not a fan of pumpkin.

[!potatoes!]

I need to get my dad's recipe for apple butter, as it's some of the best (and richest flavored) I've tried...it's also really dark, a deep brown that's almost black....

mmm....

time to call home.

pebbles, re: pork...apple butter's a fair amount thicker than sauce...but that would probably still be really good.

[applestar]

OK Cynthia_h. I looked around and saw that a lot of apple butter recipes had apple cider vinegar in it. Although my apples are unripe and sour, I've tried a small amount (2 Tbs to 6 C of strained apples) Also added a pinch of allspice. I'm running out of sugar -- after making the last batch of apple butter, elderberry flower syrup, spearmint and wood sorrel syrup, and aka-shiso (red perilla) syrup -- so today, I raided the pantry and found my jar of organic orange peels preserved in organic cane sugar. Used about 1/4C of the orange-flavored sugar (removing the peel).

5-1/2 Cups total *very yummy* apple butter. Would've canned some, but my Mom stopped by unannounced, and ended up giving her a pint. 3-1/2 C didn't seem enough to can, so I froze 2 C and will keep the rest in the fridge.

Still lots more green apples on the tree, and October (when Enterprise should be ripe) is a long way away....