One of my fondest childhood memories is Apple Butter. My granny had an orchard for much of my young life and home-canned many jars of spiced apples, apple sauce and amazing apple butter. They were all picked at the same time and she had to do something with them or lose them.
These days I don't pick them but the 4-H and FFA sell 50 pound cases as a fund raiser. A friend at church gave me one of these cases. I ate what I could, gave a bunch away and thought of Apple Butter.
This is useful for you if you have access to an orchard, find a bargain on aging fruit at the grocery or get big boxes from fund raisers. You can stop at the Apple Sauce stage! This is pure and only has sugar added if you want it. Could even be used as baby food.
I called my mother, searched my granny's recipes for this recipe and adjusted it. It is EASY and CLEAN as long as you have an electric roaster oven and a food mill. With my mom's coaching here is the process and recipe to make it in large batches. Remember that the Electric roasters cook from the sides and not the bottom. Always have a little water on the bottom to Keep things from sticking.
Recipe: Can be scaled up or down
25 Pounds of apples, washed and quartered ( made 2 gallons of apple sauce)
3 cups of sugar-adjust to suit your taste and your apples
4 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoons of All Spice
1 1/2 Table Spoons of Nutmeg
1 lemon-juice and zest
2 Tablespoons of good vanilla
Quarter the apples and remove those plastic lables and stems! Leave all peelings, cores and seeds. This is a source of pectin.
First add a quart of water, more if the apples dry out. Cook until they are the consistency of apple sauce, stir away from the sides occaisionally.
Run the apples through a food mill in small batches, discarding the peeling as the sauce is collected in a large pot. I used the medium screen.
These days I don't pick them but the 4-H and FFA sell 50 pound cases as a fund raiser. A friend at church gave me one of these cases. I ate what I could, gave a bunch away and thought of Apple Butter.
This is useful for you if you have access to an orchard, find a bargain on aging fruit at the grocery or get big boxes from fund raisers. You can stop at the Apple Sauce stage! This is pure and only has sugar added if you want it. Could even be used as baby food.
I called my mother, searched my granny's recipes for this recipe and adjusted it. It is EASY and CLEAN as long as you have an electric roaster oven and a food mill. With my mom's coaching here is the process and recipe to make it in large batches. Remember that the Electric roasters cook from the sides and not the bottom. Always have a little water on the bottom to Keep things from sticking.
Recipe: Can be scaled up or down
25 Pounds of apples, washed and quartered ( made 2 gallons of apple sauce)
3 cups of sugar-adjust to suit your taste and your apples
4 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoons of All Spice
1 1/2 Table Spoons of Nutmeg
1 lemon-juice and zest
2 Tablespoons of good vanilla
Quarter the apples and remove those plastic lables and stems! Leave all peelings, cores and seeds. This is a source of pectin. First add a quart of water, more if the apples dry out. Cook until they are the consistency of apple sauce, stir away from the sides occaisionally.
Run the apples through a food mill in small batches, discarding the peeling as the sauce is collected in a large pot. I used the medium screen.
You can stop here and either can or freeze the sauce. For apple butter, place back into the cleaned roaster and add the spices. adjust the sugar to suit your taste. Cook with the cover on sideways, allowing the moisture to escape but holding in the heat, stirring often, until it reduces by half and it gets to a deep brown color. This will take several hours.
Can according to the directions found at http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html and clean the outsides of the jars thoroughly. The butter is sticky. 
Canned, the sauce will last a year, refrigerated a couple of months. I have not tried freezing it but that should work too.I tried this with pears. It was tasty but gritty. Remove the cores and stems before cooking the pears and use the smaller food mill screen.
Enjoy on pancakes, toast or biscuits.
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