Communal Canning: Apple Butter!

I always look forward to the fall day when the apples are ready. I travel to the home of my friends Debbie and Beth.  They are a mother-daughter team that are some of the best over-all homesteaders I have the privilege to call friends. Beth and her late husband Jack won awards for their maple syrup when they cooked down sap from their sugar maples.  I always come away from my day of fellowship with them tired but refreshed with all kinds of advice and tips.  Debbie is one of my most cherished forever friends. 

They used to put up over 12 bushels of apples as there were many hands to help with the washing and peeling. As friends have moved away and family members have left on their own adventures, we only put up 7 bushels this year.  Beth was extremely gracious and gave me a copy of her Grandma Schwengel’s apple butter recipe.  Of course I am sharing it with you!

They work apples for three days, starting with the apple butter.  I come for the apple sauce and apple pie filling day.  They finish with more apple sauce and apple jelly cooked from the peelings.

Here is Grandma Schwengel’s Apple Butter Recipe: She was born in 1894, a homesteader

1 bushel apples = 5 gallons of apple sauce

1 gallon fresh cider (not the over-processed from the store kind, from an orchard)

8 cups sugar

3 Tablespoons Cinnamon

2 Tablespoons All spice

2 Tablespoons Cloves (ground)

2 Tablespoons Vanilla (add last at end of cooking)

Mix applesauce, cider and spices (except vanilla) and cook all day (on the stove or in a low oven).  Stir frequently to prevent scouring. Add the vanilla and jar up using standard canning techniques.  Process using the water bath canning method: 20 min for pints and 30 mins for quarts.  Yields:  32 pints or 16 quarts

I will save the pint I was given until the depth of winter and bake some homemade whole wheat bread.  Nothing is better than toast and apple butter along with the farm fresh eggs and bacon to start the day!  I got to go, it’s my turn to crank the food mill.  I will be writing soon about the applesauce and pie filling.  I hope you gather some friends together for a canning session soon.  It is so much fun! Hugs, Anne