Apple Butter
- Thread starter VAAngus
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hillsdown
Well-known member
That looks like a big job ! Thanks for sharing pics. :tiphat:
J&D Cattle
Well-known member
Our church makes it annually and has forever to sell at their Bazaar. It's sure a lot of work.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
I love apple butter. Thanks for sharing this. Never seen it made. I love the pot too. Best keep that under lock and key because that is worth a small fortune.
VAAngus
Well-known member
Yes the copper kettle belonged to my grandparents. After they passed away I was determined I was going to buy at the estate auction. Cost a me a shiny penny, but we have been making apple butter in it for as long as I can remember. A batch usually lasts us about three years.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
Its a beaut for sure. I have my grandmother's kettle she used for making hog head stew. Not telling how many pots of stew or loads of clothes has been in that thing. Little piece of history.
skyhightree1
Well-known member
That brings back memories of my grandmother and aunts cousins making apple butter as a kid VAangus I grew up in Floyd county. I showed my grandmother who lives with me your photos just now and she smiled and first thing she said was about the long wooden handle stirer. :tiphat: thanks for bringing back those memories to me and my grandmother.
alisonb
Well-known member
Looks good! Is the lid left off through the whole process?
TexasBred
Well-known member
VAAngus":399edebg said:
For those of us that have never made it you wanna sort of run thru the process and recipe for us?
pdfangus
Well-known member
TexasBred":344a7fao said:
I am with TB....
give us some pointers....
I might like to try it myself but maybe on a little smaller scale....
VAAngus
Well-known member
Ingredient list is pretty simple:
Apples
Sugar
Cinnamon oil
For this batch we used 11 1/2 bushels of Stayman apples. Some years we use half Staymans and half Romes and I have heard other people use Winesaps also.
We spend Thursday and Friday nights peeling, coring and slicing apples. The smaller you cut the apples the faster it will cook down.
On Saturday morning we wash the apple slices in cold water and start adding the washed apples into the kettle.
We add the apples gradually, it normally takes us about 5 to 6 hours to get all the apples in the kettle.
As soon as apples go in the kettle you need to start stirring to keep the apples from sticking to the pot.
We put 100 pennies in the bottom of the kettle to kind of scrape along the bottom and help keep it from sticking.
Once you start, you can't stop stirring, if the butter sticks to the kettle it will give a burnt taste to the whole batch, and my grandparent swore that a burnt spot on the kettle would ruin the kettle as the next time you used it, it was more likely to burn again. I'm not sure about that last part, as I have never seen a burnt kettle. It may have just been how my grandparents scared us kids into not letting the molly digger ever stop. :lol:
After all the apples are in and it starts to cook down and turn light brown, we start slowly adding the sugar. We used 75 lbs. in this batch. The amount of sugar varies by year, based on how the apples were that year. We usually start taste testing after 50 lbs. and just keep adding until everyone is happy. Usually takes about 4 to 5 hours to get all the sugar in.
How long you cook it is just personal preference. The longer you cook it the darker and thicker it will get. This batch was on the fire for almost 19 hours. Some of the churches around here make it for fund raising, but they will only cook for 8 or 9 hours. A lot of it just looks and tastes like apple sauce to me. But they are doing it for a good cause.
When we finally decide it's done, we will move it off the fire and add the cinnamon oil to taste. We used about 4 oz. in this batch, doesn't take much as that oil is pretty potent. You sure don't want to get it in your eyes, it burns like He..
It then goes straight into mason jars, where the heat from the apple butter will seal the jar. I think out of over 100 quarts, we had 4 jars that did not seal.
After all the butter is out of the kettle, you wouldn't believe how shiny the kettle and those 100 pennies in the bottom of it are.
Apples
Sugar
Cinnamon oil
For this batch we used 11 1/2 bushels of Stayman apples. Some years we use half Staymans and half Romes and I have heard other people use Winesaps also.
We spend Thursday and Friday nights peeling, coring and slicing apples. The smaller you cut the apples the faster it will cook down.
On Saturday morning we wash the apple slices in cold water and start adding the washed apples into the kettle.
We add the apples gradually, it normally takes us about 5 to 6 hours to get all the apples in the kettle.
As soon as apples go in the kettle you need to start stirring to keep the apples from sticking to the pot.
We put 100 pennies in the bottom of the kettle to kind of scrape along the bottom and help keep it from sticking.
Once you start, you can't stop stirring, if the butter sticks to the kettle it will give a burnt taste to the whole batch, and my grandparent swore that a burnt spot on the kettle would ruin the kettle as the next time you used it, it was more likely to burn again. I'm not sure about that last part, as I have never seen a burnt kettle. It may have just been how my grandparents scared us kids into not letting the molly digger ever stop. :lol:
After all the apples are in and it starts to cook down and turn light brown, we start slowly adding the sugar. We used 75 lbs. in this batch. The amount of sugar varies by year, based on how the apples were that year. We usually start taste testing after 50 lbs. and just keep adding until everyone is happy. Usually takes about 4 to 5 hours to get all the sugar in.
How long you cook it is just personal preference. The longer you cook it the darker and thicker it will get. This batch was on the fire for almost 19 hours. Some of the churches around here make it for fund raising, but they will only cook for 8 or 9 hours. A lot of it just looks and tastes like apple sauce to me. But they are doing it for a good cause.
When we finally decide it's done, we will move it off the fire and add the cinnamon oil to taste. We used about 4 oz. in this batch, doesn't take much as that oil is pretty potent. You sure don't want to get it in your eyes, it burns like He..
It then goes straight into mason jars, where the heat from the apple butter will seal the jar. I think out of over 100 quarts, we had 4 jars that did not seal.
After all the butter is out of the kettle, you wouldn't believe how shiny the kettle and those 100 pennies in the bottom of it are.
pdfangus
Well-known member
THANKS....
now all I have to do is figure out how to downsize that recipe to something I can do...
and recruit some relief stirrers....
you got 112 quarts and that pot looked pretty full so I am guessing it is about a thirty gallon pot....
now all I have to do is figure out how to downsize that recipe to something I can do...
and recruit some relief stirrers....
you got 112 quarts and that pot looked pretty full so I am guessing it is about a thirty gallon pot....
TexasBred
Well-known member
pdfangus":1g9gpuc3 said:
Yeah for sure. BTW how much beer does a fella need to have on hand before he starts this long time consuming process?? :mrgreen: ;-)
hillbilly beef man
Well-known member
We did this last weekend at church. Main difference is that we used $10 worth of quarters instead of pennies. Best part is that I have an aunt that bakes sourdough bread, and she always has 4 loaves coming out of the oven when we get through putting the butter in jars. We then use the bread to clean up the kettle. Nothing better than hot bread and fresh apple butter.
pdfangus
Well-known member
not having a copper pot.......
and not being able to afford one.....
I am wondering if a cast iron pot would work....I have a friend who has one and we have cooked chille in his over the fire....
and not being able to afford one.....
I am wondering if a cast iron pot would work....I have a friend who has one and we have cooked chille in his over the fire....
skyhightree1
Well-known member
pdfangus":36fnghh8 said:
My family had a cast iron pot like brunswick stew pot they made theres in for years.
pdfangus
Well-known member
thats what I was thinking....all my people were poor and I have never seen a copper pot......
gotta stir it anyway so I figured a cast iron pot would work just as well.....
I think I am gonna try it....
even found a test recipe to try a small batch in the crock pot....gonna do them this weekend....and plan for a bigger batch.....
gotta stir it anyway so I figured a cast iron pot would work just as well.....
I think I am gonna try it....
even found a test recipe to try a small batch in the crock pot....gonna do them this weekend....and plan for a bigger batch.....
