Smooth as 🍎Butter
I grew up watching my Mom can salsas, relishes, pickles, fruit jams and butters. I would visit my grandparents and eat things Grandma canned. Grandma was more traditional, pickled beans, beets, relishes, pickles, sliced fruit and jams. My pallet as a 7 year old was not quite evolved yet when I first tried pickled beets. I probably said some harsh, unkind words about the vinegary, earthy tasting veg.
Canning in the midwest is not a fun thing to do, it was a necessity. It echoes of a life on the prairie, of scarcity during the depression and a hard life on a farm. Both my grandmothers canned food as a way of providing for their family and save on household expenses. It was also an act of love, care and devotion to their family.
I've canned off and on through out the years. Not to the days long, massive production as I'd seen the family matriarchs do. A few weeks ago I picked apples with my two best friends from high school. We went hoping for peaches, but the hot raining summer meant they were all gone by the end of July. The apples were tart and delicious. I picked a peck (yes, that's a real thing!) of apples and we excited to turn them into apple butter.
After a quick email search looking for the recipe from my Mom, I found this. You should know my Mom is a staunch recipe follower. I use a recipe as a guideline and then riff off of it. Our differences can lead to frustration when Mom wants a recipe from me and I don't have one. The fact that Mom sent me the base apple butter recipe from MEMORY means she has made this so often that a recipe is unnecessary.
APPLE BUTTER from Mom's memory
(You can find the full recipe here)
Apples, quartered and cored
1-2 cups apple juice or apple cider, depending on how many apples
Cook in saucepan on the stove over medium heat until soft
Push cooked apples through strainer.
Measure apple pulp and put in crockpot.
Add 1 cup of sugar for each pint (2 cups) of apple pulp.
Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/8 (allspice or nutmeg—I am not sure which)
Cover crock pot, cook on low for 3 hours, stirring after every hour.
Remove lid and cook for another 3-4 hours until butter is thick.
Things I've been watching, reading and listening to...
- J.K. Rowling mapped all of Harry Potter out, and it's amazing.
- Crazy Rich Asians is as good as everyone says it is. The change it's bringing to Hollywood is equally as good.
- Is iceberg really superior? The debate rages on (though I didn't know it was going on at all.)
- The new Death Cab for Cutie album is out and on consistent repeat.
- Netflix has been killing the new movie game. From the Kissing Booth (cheesy, light hearted), to my new favorite Like Father (Father/Daughter movie with an excellent cast of Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer). I can't wait to watch The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Speaking of Netflix, there are hundreds of sub-genres that they don't display. See the full list to find your next favorite (or just go down an hours long rabbit hole.)
Amy
