15

The main problem making apple butter is that it needs to be stirred almost constantly when it thickens. In colonial days it was made in large iron pots over open fires outside and people took turns continually stirring with large wooden paddles. It took hours to cook it to the proper consistency. (It should be much drier and thicker than apple sauce)

A modern suggestion is to make it in a crockpot / slow cooker. When it gets thick continue to cook, with the top off, stirring fairly often, until it's a thick paste.

16

yes the stuff I bought was no reduction...just apple sauce with tons of sugar and cinnamon. It won't even stay on a slice of toast. Maybe the real stuff is available in apple country.

17

In my experience even apple sauce is thick enough to stay on bread.

Marichel, it's not the only non-dairy butter here. There are also peanut butter, almond butter, and cocoa butter.

18

. . . and shea butter.

19

The 'Scottish Soaps Company' produces hotel soap containing shea butter. Seems it is quite versatile stuff!

20

Out here I've also seen Pecan butter. I love shea butter in moisturizers.

21

I've also seen pumpkin butter, pear butter, and cherry butter. And recipes for quince butter.

22

I learned something here in this thread. My Grandma used to make the most delicious apple butter ever, but when she passed away nobody could ever replicate the taste and texture.

Cook it longer.

23

A proper apple butter is very dark, at least as dark as the stuff in this photograph. And it's not cloyingly sweet, because there is no added sugar.

24

The muck that I bought is only brown because the cinnamon is brown. I may be compeeled now to make some REAL apple butter just to see what it really could taste like.

25

I forgot prune butter/lekvar.

26

I much prefer garlic butter.

27

Discovered apple butter when i spent a summer in Indiana as a kid. It's great on toast. but it's also great for baking, even if you have some that's not great quality. This is a muffin recipe I use all the time that calls for apple butter, there are lots of recipes out there that use it.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/morning-glory-muffins-i/detail.aspx

28

Oh yeah! I forgot about apple butter muffins. Now I'm hungry.

29

I look out for inexpensive bags of Granny Smith apples on special at the local supermarket.

Back home the apples get a good wash before being chopped into quarters (no peeling or coring) and are microwaved in the big pyrex jug until they look as though they're softening and the juice is starting to flow.

That watery juice is poured off from time to time without disturbing the mass:. continue cooking in the nuker until the juice slows to a trickle.

Cooling the apples in the jug before sieving them into a heat-proof bowl reserves all that concentrated fragrant "fresh apple" flavour that comes from from the skins and cores.

Have a taste of your new batch of pale ivory-green apple sauce/butter (it might need a judiciousl spoonful or two of white sugar) . before heating it again, this time to a very gentle simmer and ladle imediately into sterilised jars. Seal the jars with cling film before scewing down the tops. Allow to cool before stowing them in the fridge or a cool dark cupboard.

The slightly tart taste of this home-made apple sauce is great with pork -- roasted, barbequed or sausaged, and rolled as a filling into cinnamon-sugar dusted heated crepes.

And here's a "P.S" ---
On plain paper spread a good sprinkle of castor sugar mixed with ground cinnamon or allspice. Lay each crepe, "good side" down on the spiced sugar, spread a spoonful of your apple sauce on one side of the crepe and then roll it up, closing the apple inside. (Enough sugar will cling to the crepe so that when heated through in a moderate oven the crepes will be lightly crusted,sugared, and, spiced (and delicious).

Dollop of chilled unsweetened whipped cream!

Lay each filled crepe, side by side in a shallow