This Apple Butter Recipe Is a Family Heirloom (2024)

FAQs

Who first made apple butter? ›

Historians do know that apple butter can be traced back to Germany and Belgium during the Middle Ages. The practice was likely brought to Appalachia by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who migrated to Western North Carolina after the American Revolutionary War.

*You can also preserve your apple butter via the water-bath canning method, which uses a canning pot. The recommending processing time is 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts. Home-canned apple butter has a shelf life of about two years. Store in a cool, dark place.

Applesauce is a fairly quick process, cooked apples run through a food mill. Apple butter is basically concentrated apple sauce, cooked down even more until it's thicker, silkier, and more intensely apple flavored. Like the difference between tomato sauce and tomato paste, essentially.

Apple jam is like apple butter in that it features apples cooked down over a long period of time. However, apple jam is thinner in consistency, lighter in color, and often includes bits of fruit, whereas apple butter is thicker, darker in color (thanks to caramelization) and blended until smooth.

Apple-Butter in Pennsylvania. One of the most delicious dishes among our Pennsylvania German farmers is apple butter. It is made in the fall of the year, of ripe apples and pure sweet cider.

“Historians do know that apple butter can be traced back to Germany and Belgium during the Middle Ages. The practice was likely brought to Appalachia by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who migrated to Western North Carolina after the American Revolutionary War.”

For 1 tablespoon the amount of carbohydrates is about 4–15 grams and the sugar content is about 4–10 grams. Apple butter is not a good source for iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B, though it contains a small amount of vitamin C.

Once the apple butter has cooled and been placed into jars or airtight containers, store using the following guidelines: Refrigerator Storage – You can store the apple butter in the fridge for up to 1 month. Freezer Storage – You can store the apple butter in the freezer for up to 1 year.

If stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, homemade apple butter can last up to 6 months. If you store it in the freezer, it can last up to a year. It's important to check the apple butter for any signs of spoilage before consuming. Discard if it has an off odor, mold or discoloration.

Apple butter will thicken as it cools, so don't worry if it still looks a little runny in the slow cooker! If you still need to thicken your apple butter, you can continue to cook it uncovered in your crock pot or simmer it on the stove.

What if my apple butter is too sweet? ›

If apple butter is too sweet: Mix in a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice or a little lemon zest to help balance the sweetness.

If you want an even thicker butter, you can continue to cook yours even longer; but I've found the two hours to be plenty (and keep in mind it will continue to thicken as it cools!).

Apple butter has a lot of spice in it. I add cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove to mine, and sometimes I add ginger. But the spices alone don't make it brown. Long slow cooking that caramelizes the sugar in the apples does the job in homemade versions.

Made by slowly cooking fruit and sugar together until a smooth, thick "butter-like" consistency emerges, Smucker's^® Cider Apple Butter is the perfect combination of old-time sweetness and rich texture. Tastes glorious on toast, bakes wonderfully in cakes, and glazes pork to perfection.

The longer you cook it, the thicker it will be. Apple butter is high in natural sugar so if you want don't want to add sugar, then use sweet apples. The thing about sugar is that helps thicken your apple butter.

Apple butter, Wikipedia will tell you, originated in Germany and the Netherlands, and has been a popular way to preserve the apple harvest in the U.S. since Colonial times. The spread is considered a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty.

As it is a simple way to preserve apples, apple butter dates back to medieval times in Europe. No wonder it also made it to Wisconsin. You can find advertisem*nts for apple butter in local newspapers as early as 1858 and there are a number of recipes to choose from if you want to make your own.

Contrary to its name, there is no butter involved in the making of apple butter. The fruity spread, which is essentially highly concentrated applesauce, is made by cooking apples with spices (like cinnamon and cloves) or ciders until the sugars are caramelized.

The first red candy apple is said to have been invented by candy-maker William Kolb from New Jersey when he decided to dip an apple in a red cinnamon candy he was making for Christmas. As a result, the first red candy apple was sold in stores as early as 1908 for around 5 cents a piece.