Monday, July 26, 2010

Apples - At Last!

13 years ago, I planted a "Transparent" apple tree. I have never yet done any spraying to prevent insect damage or disease. The tree, up until this year, would only make a few little nobbly pathetic apples. But this year, I have a REAL harvest! I picked up the more decent ones from the ground. Here they are!



Now they are in the sink, being washed and I am cutting out the bad parts:



I filled a 2 gallon pot with little pieces of apples (WHY is blogger underlining my typed words??)



Here are all the little things I cut off of the apples. That will go in the compost pile.



I put 2 cups of apple juice in the pan, and simmered it all until the apples were tender. Now, I will put them through the Foley Food Mill:



Here is all that was left in the mill:



Now, all the apple sauce goes into my crock-pot. I added 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt.



I leave off the lid, set the Crock Pot on "low" and cover it with a cloth. I let it cook for about 12 hours, I think. It would depend on the moisture content of your apples.



I stirred the contents occasionally, but not at night. Here is the result! Lovely, delicious, apple butter:



Then I filled canning jars to within 1/2 inch of the rim, put on the caps and water-bath processed them for 15 minutes.



I am very happy!

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on the harvest..the end result looks yummy!

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  2. YUM! We have about 24 apple trees and never spray them and we have had a few good years for apples, but this won't be one of them:(

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  4. Thank you tberry29! Oh, Carmen, that's too bad. I need to study up on how and what and when to spray. I am vaguely aware that a "dormant oil spray" would be beneficial and doesn't have to be toxic, so I guess I'll look into that first.

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  5. How wonderful you are able to make your own apple butter from your own apples. Is this your first time making apple butter?

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  6. CarmenV, no, I've been making apple butter for a long time. Only one other year did I have my own apples though. When our children were still at home, and I needed a lot more, I would cook it in my water bath canner (open, of course) in the oven set at 250. The procedure was the same, though. I've never used a recipe. I just put in what I like and hope for the best. So far, it has never failed me.

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  7. Looks so good! I'd love to just eat one of the apples right off of the tree, yum!

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  8. Well, you know where I live!! :)

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  9. Lovely pictures! You don't waste anything do you!

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  10. I try not to, Sarah. But some does go to waste since there's only one of me. :)

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