Apple Butter 2009

On October 9th and 10th we made Grandmary's famous apple butter. This was an old tradition for some, and a new tradition for others.

Starting Friday night we sliced a little more than five bushels of apples in our garage. We used hand-crank apple slicer/corers. This expedited the process greatly, but, according to Grandmary, wasted a little bit of each apple around the core. As it turned out, she was right. We ended up with fewer jars of apple butter per bushel than she used to get when they hand sliced each apple. I think that it was a tradeoff the rest of us were willing to take, as it only took us two hours to slice the apples, versus the many hours it takes to hand slice each apple.

We planned on making the apple butter at our home on Saturday, but Brandon developed pneumonia on Friday, and we were concerned about exposing everyone to any lingering bugs at the house. Fortunately, our friends Paul and Ryan Bowman graciously offered to host the apple butter making at their home. It worked out very well there, and they were terrific hosts, even providing breakfast and preparing lunch for us. Thanks Bowmans! Of course, we missed Jill and Brandon. Jill was involved in slicing the apples, but didn't get to be involved Saturday. Jill stayed with Brandon on Saturday, and I know they would have enjoyed being with us. Wait 'til next year. By the way, Brandon recovered quickly and is doing much better now.

Early on Saturday morning we lit a fire under Grandmary's copper kettle and started adding the sliced apples and a little water. We cooked the apples for a few hours, until they became sauce-like. We then ran the sauce through four food mills, then added it back to the kettle. After reheating, we added the spices and sugar, then cooked it to thicken further.

There is usually some careful inspection involved in the determination of when the apple butter is ready to jar. The one constant is the person who makes the call. It is Grandmary! She inspects the surface to see if it has the right sheen and to see if the "hog eyes" are holding up. (This means that the boiled bubbles stay stiff at the surface, indicating that the apple butter is thick enough). She also uses a white plate and spoon to inspect a sample before making the call.

The day was hugely successful. The apple butter had a great flavor, we felt, and everyone seemed to have a fun time. I need to thank Jill for all that she did getting ready for the event. Honey, I appreciate all of the running around you did to get supplies and to get the house ready. You sacrificed being a part of it to allow me to have fun with the crew on Saturday. I need to thank Mom, Dad, and Grandmary for the use of the kettle, for bringing all of the supplies up, and for locating the apples and spices. We couldn't have done it without you and your expertise. Again, the Bowmans deserve special thanks for opening their home to us. And, thanks to everyone who helped with the apple slicing and apple butter making. You made it a fun and easy day! There are some photos in this blog of apple butter 2009. As I can only include a few photos, I probably won't get everyone in the pics - sorry for that.

Hopefully this is the start of many more years making apple butter each fall with our family and friends!