Tuesday 26 July 2011

Apple Butter

Making apple butter is a great way to use up the glut of apples at harvest time. Although that is not for a few months yet, I'm including the recipe here as it goes so well with Homemade Sausages. As the name suggests there is butter in this preserve, need ti dispel the myth; 'butter' is a bit of a misnomer. The name comes from its smooth and buttery texture. It is delicious served with pork of any kind as well as with bacon or just served on toast at breakfast.




Ingredients:
2kg Granny Smith apples
250ml apple cider vinegar
500ml water
about 1000ml sugar
Salt
10ml ground cinnamon
2ml ground cloves
2ml allspice or ground pimento
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Method:
Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them. Much of the pectin in in the cores, seeds and peels. Cut out any damaged parts of the apples.

Put the apples into a large pot, add the vinegar and water, over, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the apples are soft. Remove from the heat.

Ladle the apple mixture into a conical sieve (or food mill) and force the pulp through the sieve with the back of a spoon into a bowl. Measure the resulting purée. Add 125g sugar for each 250ml of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add a dash of salt, the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice and blend through the apple mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Transfer the apple mixture to a large, wide, heavy-based nonstick saucepan and cook on a low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to ensure a crust does not form on the bottom of the pot. If your pot is nonstick, it shouldn't form a crust, but just to be sure, constantly clear the base of the pot. Cook for 1-2 hours until thick and smooth. To test when it is ready spoon a small amount onto a chilled plate - it should be thick, not runny.

Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal. This makes a little more than three jam jars. Store in the larder until opened, then store in the fridge.

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