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Apple Butter or Apple Sauce?

18 years ago

Ok... Had some apples that were just too hard to eat raw, Jonathon, so I figured I'd make some Apple Butter... I searched here first, for a recipe, because I remember seeing a few posts... Well, we all know how that goes... LOL

Anyway, I searched the Web and found quite a few recipes that were all a little different but somewhat the same.... Apples, sugar, spices and apple cider... Ok, I didn't have any cider so I thought I'd substitute apple juice... Just as soon as I poured it over the cut up apples it dawned on me that apple juice contains ascorbic acid... Duh....

Should I just quit now and end up with over cooked watery apple sauce?. Or should I go for it?... What spices do you use for apple butter?

Rita

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Comments (5)

kframe19
18 years ago
Not sure why you're worried about ascorbic acid unless it eats pectin... But that's really not all that big a deal.

I made apple butter a few weeks ago with a combination of Jonathan and Courtland apples.

I boiled the apples in a combination of water and apple cider (the recipe I used called for apple cider vinegar and a LOT more sugar), strained the pulp through a sieve and into my crockpot.

The spices I used were clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little allspice, and primarily brown sugar for sweetening.

I cooked everything on high in an uncovered crockpot for about 10 hours until it was nice and thick and the consistency I wanted.
ritaotay
Original Author
18 years ago
I was afraid the ascorbic acid would prevent the apples from turning brown... Guess not, it's already a nice reddish brown... Only 8 more house to go.... LOL

Rita
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annie1992
18 years ago
Rita, I'm too late to add my opinion, but I say go for the apple butter!

My Grandma's recipe calls for cider but I just boil the apples in water, run them through the food mill, add sugar and spices to taste and stick it all in the oven at 350 until it's nice and dark and thick.

The house smells great and I can do other things while it cooks down. That said, the batch Elery and I made on Saturday only took 3 hours to cook and it was THICK!

Annie
ritaotay
Original Author
18 years ago
How come my spell checker didn't catch house instead of hours... Dumb spell checker.... lol

Yeah, I think I should have left out the cider vinegar... That's all I can smell now.... LOL

Rita
Terri_PacNW
18 years ago
Because you spelled it correctly Rita..It's spelling checker, not a grammer checker. LOL

Gosh I just make apple butter, by cooking down applesauce..I often don't even add water...If you put it on low in a pot with a good lid..the "steam" will give you enough liquid sometimes..

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