Apple Butter
“The best apple butter on the planet.”
That’s how our friend Lee in North Carolina describes this year’s apple butter. We sent him a jar, and he posted this on Facebook afterwards. It made me smile for a long time.
The bountiful apple harvest this year meant I could make lots of apple butter, using
Mom’s recipe.
I remember writing the recipe down one time when I was here for a Christmas visit and she was sending me back with quarts of applesauce she had made for me, so I could cook up some apple butter once Jimmy and I got back to Virginia. She didn’t give me exact measurements on the spices. The recipe just says, “Cinnamon, cloves and allspice.” She always used plenty of each and I always loved that. I carry on that tradition.
I made this year’s apple butter as I always do, in my great Aunt Alice Munro’s
100-plus-year-old roaster.
Each batch roasted for seven hours, then I canned it in the evening.
I don’t believe that apple butter should be a wimpy light brown color. Our apple butter is for those who love fall spices. It is rich, dark and not for the faint of heart.
Take a big spoon and pile it on toast, fresh bread, English muffins or ice cream. And enjoy the very best flavors of autumn.
Ingredients: fresh applesauce, apple cider vinegar, a tiny bit of water, sugar, cinnamon,
cloves, allspice