Anyone ever made your own apple butter? [View All]

[supernova]

:hi:

Making my own apple butter tonight.

Last week, I got a bag of apples at the store (yeah I know, coulda gone to the mountains and gotten some fresh ones.. ) They weren't the freshest, on the mealy side. So I decided to make apple butter with them. I had everything here to do that.

This was a new experience since I've never tried to make apple butter before.

All the recipes I read said to do the first cooking in apple juice (or cider). Can we talk about the word "cider?" I thought "cider" specifically meant fermented apple juice. Have I been wrong all these years? lol

I didn't have any juice, so I went to the store and got a 1/2 gallon of the cheapest stuff that I could find at Whole Paycheck. :D

There seems to be some discussion in recipes about cooking the apples with the skins and cores, that you strain them out later. I decided to rough chop the apples without the cores and leave the skins, figuring I could strain them out later. I got some of the cores anyway because it really was a rough chop. :-)

So, I did that cooking, let the pot cool down and strained them through a sieve for a smoother texture and to remove the skins.

At this point, it really is good applesauce. I added sugar, cinnamon and cloves and will be cooking that down to butter consistency.

I'm trying to decide if I want to add another twist, like ginger. I'll see how this turns out.

Have you ever made your own apple butter or other fruit butter? How did you do it?