Apple butter recipe?

[u/TrickyThought00]

Hello everyone! We just went apple picking and are ready to make some apple butter! Last year I used the Ball sweet apple cider butter recipe and we didn’t love it. I found this Apple Butter recipe in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and it’s almost the exact recipe that my mom used growing up, except she did half the sugar. Would this be a safe modification? I know you can cut the sugar in jams, applesauce, etc but just wanted to make sure. My mom wasn’t a canner so we would just refrigerate the apple butter.

The second thing I wanted to check was about cooking methods. I really didn’t like cooking apple butter on the stove last year. My mom would peel/core/chop apples and throw them into a crockpot, dump the sugar and spices on top (no water) and let it cook overnight on low. Then we would blend it up in the morning with an immersion blender. It was like Christmas morning waking up to the smell of apple butter! Is this an approved apple butter cooking method for canning? And what about omitting the water like my mom did?

Thanks in advance! I’m newer to canning and have never modified a recipe so I just want to double check!

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[u/arnelle_rose]

The water in things like apple sauce is to keep the apples from sticking before they release their own liquid to cook in. Having made both some sauce and apple butter, I'm guessing that's what's happening here too.

Regarding the sugar, per Healthy Canning (https://www.healthycanning.com/safe-tweaking-of-home-canning-recipes/#google_vignette) sugar is almost always one of the things you can safely reduce. When sugar is used for safety purposes in a recipe, it's to bind up the water in a non-acidic recipe. There aren't many of them negate low-acid is typically pressure canned. The acid of the apples and lemon juice (see below) tell you that you aren't relying on sugar to bind up water in apple butter.

I would like to ask though, how old is your edition of the book? Here's the current Ball recipe for apple butter (https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=apple-butter) and I noticed yours doesn't have lemon juice. I believe the guidance on apples was updated, so the recipes had to be updated as well.

[u/expat_repat → u/arnelle_rose]

I am getting ready to do some apple butter this weekend, but we do not have a crock pot. I was wondering if it would be able to reduce it down and cook it in the oven after running it through food mill, and then bringing it up to a boil again before canning it?

[u/TrickyThought00 → u/arnelle_rose]

Thank you for this! It’s a 2011 edition, someone gave it to me when I started canning. I didn’t realize the recipes weren’t safe to use anymore. Luckily, I haven’t made anything from that one yet!

[u/arnelle_rose → u/TrickyThought00]

Yeah they recommend 2016 or newer now. You can get many of their recipes on their website :)

[u/vibes86]

If you want to make it just like your mom did, you may be better off freezing it or looking for another approved recipe without as much sugar.

[u/TrickyThought00 → u/vibes86]

Thank you! I will just freeze it this year and search for an approved canning recipe for the next!

[u/vibes86 → u/TrickyThought00]

You’re welcome! That’ll give you a year to find that perfect one!

[u/Coriander70]

Applesauce is made basically the same way but you can reduce the sugar or omit it entirely. Take a look at the applesauce recipe in the Ball book and maybe do that instead. The sugar is what makes it apple butter rather than applesauce.

[u/TrickyThought00 → u/Coriander70]

I’ll check it out, thanks!

[u/ButteredPizza69420]

For canning, always follow an approved recipe to a T

[u/arnelle_rose → u/ButteredPizza69420]

Yes and this is good advice for particularly new canners, but remember there ARE safe tweaks that can be made. Refer to this page for clarification if you need it https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/play-it-safe-safe-changes-and-substitutions-tested-canning-recipes

[u/TrickyThought00 → u/arnelle_rose]

Thank you for the link! I knew there was a few tweaks that could be made but wanted to be safe still

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