Yesterday was not ideal weather for making apple butter. We do it the old-time way, over an open fire in a large copper kettle. Snow and wind and temperatures that hovered around 20 degrees were not good conditions for spending 4 or 5 hours outside trying to keep a fire going, and stirring stirring and stirring the kettle.
The plan was to do this when all the sons and their children could participate. Derek suggested making the apple sauce in the fall after we finished cider-making. We could can the applesauce and then make it into apple butter when everyone got their schedules aligned for a weekend stir-off. So that's what we did--we spent a day making over 70 quarts of sauce, canning it and putting it in the old stone cellar to hold for when the "right" day was arranged.
That was the sticking point. With shift work, National Guard duty, storytelling performances, sick children and all the other things that can and do happen in family schedules, we could never get a clear weekend for the apple butter cooking. Finally, we were down to the last jar in the cellar, and it became an emergency (for apple butter lovers, the store variety is no substitute).
So we picked a day that Derek and I could do it, and forged ahead. The weather sounded bad, but we figured that maybe the weather man got it wrong again. We rounded up jars (70 pints worth), sugar (30 pounds), cinnamon oil (four tiny bottles), jar lids and rings. We sterilized all the jars, got out the apple sauce (70 quarts) and cleaned up the kettle. Larry got out the stand for the kettle and we were ready to go.
The weather got worse--winds over 20 mph, temps 20 or lower, and snow falling like down from a goose. But we persisted; the fire caught, we sheltered it with tin roofing and a piece of metal for a "damper" at the back, poured the sauce from the jars, and started stirring.
It takes time to make apple butter, and there's no rushing the process. It has to cook to a rolling boil before the sugar is added (about 2 hours for my 15-gallon kettle). After the sugar is added, the sauce must cook until it reaches the right consistency; I judge this the way my neighbor Belva taught me--take out a small spoonful and put it on a plate to cool. If it stands up in a nice pile with no liquid running off, it's ready. That usually takes another 2 hours of cooking after adding the sugar. The fire has to be kept hot enough to keep the butter at a rolling boil. Once the butter has reached the right consistency, the kettle is removed from the fire (or the fire removed from the kettle) and we add the cinnamon oil (has to be the oil to be strong enough). To get the right amount of cinnamon oil, the apple butter needs to be tasted until it tastes like we added a little too much. The cinnamon oil loses some potency over time, so it needs to be fairly strong when the butter is jarred up.
Because of the cold and the wind, we filled the jars in the house, afraid they would crack in the cold outside. We dipped the apple butter into buckets and carried it to the kitchen. I ladled, Derek capped, and Larry brought the kettle in to clean it in the bathtub. Usually we clean it outdoors, using only water, as soon as we finish jarring up the butter. But we did it inside and that worked just as well.
We finished up with 33.5 quarts of apple butter that is probably the best we've ever made--thick, strong and redolent with cinnamon. It was worth every minute of stirring and cold. I took pictures I will post here as soon as I can can get camera and computer together.
Derek's kids were great--they played, worked, played, and worked some more. They stayed outside well past the rest of us, building up the fire to keep warm as they "rode trees," rolled in the snow, slid on ice, looked at snowflakes through a magnifying glass and kept the dogs busy and happy. We made biscuits so we could sample the apple butter while it was still warm.
Had we not had this project planned we would probably have been inside by the fireplace, thinking that it was a great day to not have to be outdoors. Instead we enjoyed what might be the last snow of the winter, got our apple butter made, and had a day that we will remember for a long, long time.
It was, in the end, an ideal day for making apple butter.
what a shame. Such a great post . . . and no comments. I don't know what month/year I started following you but I have sure enjoyed the ride. I noticed tonight, reading your "top ten" that for most of these posts, I didn't comment. Don't know why; can't explain it . . . except some are so "powerful" to me that I probably thought, I'll go back "tomorrow" and comment. And never did. I do. I do enjoy your posts, your stories, your musings and imaginations. Keep on, Sue! Keep on posting.
ReplyDeleteWe made our "old fashioned" apple butter this weekend. A two day event... Saturday spent peeling the apples and Sunday the cooking over the fire. Your troopers doing it in the cold! We ended up with 47 quarts. I wish I had read your post sooner, about adding cinnamon until it seems to strong. Because we didn't. I thought it could've used a little more myself, and to know that it will lose potency makes me wanna tell them all, "I told you so!" ha ha ha. We also do something that I didn't read, that my husband says the "old timers" do, put a few silver dollars in the bottom of the kettle so it doesn't stick. Maybe its just a wives tale, maybe not. But he always has them in there, just in case! Thanks for your post, I enjoyed it. Its a fading tradition around these parts, nice to hear that others are also trying to keep the apple butter makin' festivities alive as well! :)
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