I’ve never made an Apple Butter Recipe for those seasons of just too many apples. ‘Til now. It was sensory. The house was filled with the tangy-sweet spice of a concentrated apple pie. It was almost overwhelming. Blissful.
Do it on a weekend, or when you have a couple of days, because this is not a quick recipe. I made mine on a glorious sunny golden two days in early October. The year prior, we’d had an unfortunate spring storm that knocked the apple blossoms off every tree. We wondered if we’d ever have apples again. Well, this year – stand back, friends. We are inundated. We appreciate the bounty and are savoring a bumper crop this year.
Here in the rolling hills of the Berkshires of Western MA, apple trees are everywhere. They grow in people’s yards, along the edges of fallow fields, in almost every forest. Did Johnny Appleseed plant them? I choose to think so. These are heirloom apples – old stock. They are small, sometimes crab-apple-like, or very mild tasting. Much more subtle than the big, bold apples in season that we modern Americans are used to.
What is Apple Butter?
Apple Butter is a rich, smooth, spiced jam-textured apple sauce. Cooks use a variety of apples – everyone seems to have a favorite combination – granny smith, honey crisp, or my favorite macoun (more an eating apple, for breakfast, with a big spoonful of peanut butter). I used a combination of cooking apples and some little guys from my yard.
How much of what type of sweetener is another big discussion in Apple Butter Recipe forums. Some recipes call for cups of both white and brown sugar. My aim with sweeteners, as with other drugs, is lowest effective dose. When you get to the step when you’ve got the smooth apple sauce-like product, that’s when you decide if, how much and what type of sweetener. I had honey and used just a bit, and a pinch of salt – creamy perfection!
Then, spices. I used whole spices and removed them – it gave a lovely colored end product. And lastly, storing. I canned mine in 8 oz jelly jars. Since I don’t can a lot, and this was some thick stuff, I will double-check for less air pocketing in the jars next time. These might hold for a week or so, but not for the year, due to that air pocketing.
2stickscinnamonuse whatever spices you like - whole or ground
4-5wholeallspice
5-6wholecardamon seeds
3tsplocal honey
1/2tspsea salt
Instructions
Quarter apples (can slice smaller). Leave skin on, core in but seeds out.
Place sliced apples, vinegar, water, and spices in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes then turn down to medium, and cook, stirring and smushing, for 45 minutes to an hour or more, until apples are consistency of a thick apple sauce. You can do this step and then leave overnight.
Either push through a sieve (to remove skins, cores, whole spices), or use a food mill. I found this step a workout!
NOW the question of sweetener. Taste your product, get to know it a bit. Does it need a touch of sweet? Some cooks use brown sugar, I used just a bit of honey, and a touch of salt.
Cook down until you reach a jelly-like consistency. Sometimes it turns a rich brown, but I aimed to keep it pink, so I stopped before it got to that stage. My consistency was velvety and delicious.
Keep in the freezer in small containers, or can in jelly jars. This makes a really lovely holiday gift.
A few Apple Butter Recipe Tips & Visuals
Here’s what about 4 pounds (64 oz, I have 65 oz here) of apples looks like – it’s about 11 medium apples.
Cores in, seeds out, my friends. Apple seeds contain a compound composed of cyanide and sugar. If enough is consumed, it can kill you. So, seeds out. Here’s what my quartered apples look like as I begin to cook them.
Here’s what my apple mix looks like once it’s cooked down.
Pushing this mixture through a sieve was a workout, but it did make a beautiful, smooth product, and the crabapples gave it a gorgeous pink color.
I’m no great chef but I am a holistic nutritionist who likes to cook – check out my easy tasty healthy recipes, by visiting my Easy Healthy Recipes page.
Spicy shots! I love ’em. A couple of years ago Free Fire Cider, based on a folk recipe, popularized by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, and trademarked, with great controversy in the herbal world, but a group in WMA, had its moment in the sun. Here’s my fire cider recipe.
Since then, I’ve been enamored with making spicy shots – delicious concoctions designed to warm and give a nutritional zing-ha to your morning. It’s a practice I especially get into in these (still!) cooler months.
Here’s one I whipped up this weekend, with tart cherry juice and apple cider vinegar. Cherry, ginger, and turmeric are all anti-inflammatories and packed with antioxidants. Apple cider vinegar is a natural probiotic. If you, like me are in the second half of life, this drink is vata-pacifying – grounding and warming.
Quick, easy, and makes you say “haaaaaa”. I aimed for warmth rather than heat in the spice. Raw garlic makes me burp, though my husband is focused on eating more, so I suggest he use this to wash down a nice raw clove for himself. Pow.
A delicious concoction designed to warm and give a nutritional zing-ha to your morning
Course Breakfast, Drinks
Equipment
Blender
Ingredients
1/2cupunsweetened cherry juice
1/2cupapple cider vinegar
1Thumb-sized piece of gingersliced
3Tspturmericdried spice
1/2tspcayenneor to tast
Instructions
Place everything in a blender and blend away. Pour into a small mason jar with a lid. The ginger and spice tend to separate, so give it a shake before your morning shot. I take about an ounce after my morning coffee and morning practices, a few minutes before breakfast.
I have a spicy-shot-for-every-season vision!
Have a favorite spicy shot you make?
Please share in the comments!
I’ve worked at Kripalu (the largest yoga center in the country) for seven years, so I have enjoyed my share of Indian food. I love the flavors of India – spicy curries, sweet-piquant chutneys, yogurt and lots of creative plant-based proteins. Indian cuisine in its original form is naturally healthful – filled with plants (often vegetarian) and aromatic spices.
I also love the work of the American Diabetes Association (bias alert – they published Yoga & Diabetes, which I co-authored). They have put together a collection of beautiful cookbooks that reflect a fresh range of ways of cooking and eating for health. If you have not yet looked at their growing collection – check them out! You don’t have to have a diabetes diagnosis to enjoy them – they are simply accessible healthful fare for everyone.
May Abraham Fridel’s Indian Cuisine Diabetes Cookbook has an authenticity and accessibility that are the hallmarks of a great cookbook. It practically smells like cumin – must be the beautiful red-brown of the two-color interior and beautiful four-color photos of select dishes. If you love the smells and tastes of India food and want to bring a bit of that into your own kitchen, this is a book for you.
The book begins with an overview of the philosophy behind India cooking, including the ancient nature-based wisdom of Ayurveda, a sister science of yoga.
There is a Spice Guide, a Pantry List, and some How-To Recipes to introduce you to the staples of healthful Indian Cuisine.
This is the book I will consult the next time I make Dal (spiced lentils). There are three easy tasty recipes and tons of advice to guide me. There’s a healthy version of my favorite Indian dish, Palak Paneer (cheese in spinach sauce) – this one uses tofu instead of cheese and skips the heavy cream that often turns that healthy sounding dish into something that while filled with nutrients is also calorie-dense. There is a chapter on street food and one on elegant dishes, a chapter on curries, a chapter on grilling, a chapter on Indian flatbreads, one pot meals, sides including slaws and salads, and drinks (I love me some lassi – India’s yogurt smoothie).
Ms. Friedel is a food literacy advocate, philanthropist and the founder and CEO of an organic spice company (www.passionforspices.com). She clearly knows of what she speaks when it comes to the flavors and spices of India.
I’m grateful for her offering, happy to add it to my cookbook shelf and look forward to continuing to sample and to learn about Indian cuisine.
As the cooling breeze of fall blows through, it’s time to spice things up. Not only do spices add a lovely kick of flavor to fall and winter fare, but spices are filled with phytonutrients; health-enhancing compounds that give us the immune boost we need through the transition to colder months. Adding a little sweet, a little heat and a bit of spice to nuts does a body good energetically this season as well. May this sweet & spicy nuts recipe warm you inside and out. I use these nuts to top warm wilted salads, on soups, or over warm fruit for a nutrient-dense treat. It would also be delicious on top of my Vegan Maple Custard recipe.
This morning I did my seasonal overhaul of cooking ingredients – putting away the cooling flavors of summer and bringing spices and heating ingredients an easier reach from the stove. I went to the grocery to gather spices – cayenne, cinnamon, mace, allspice, nutmeg – the flavors of fall. It’s one way I honor the wheel of the year, ever turning.
Sweet & Spicy Nuts Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups raw nuts and/or seeds – I used pepitas (pumpkin seeds), almonds, cashews and a few Brazil nuts
1 1/2 Tbsp grass-fed organic unsalted butter or ghee
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
Directions
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and spices. Place nuts and butter in a skillet over moderate heat, stirring for about 2 minutes until butter is melted and covers the nuts. Add the spice mixture (beware those of you who know two heat settings – high or off – this can burn quickly – I know of what I speak!). Sauté on medium heat until the sugar caramelizes – 5-8 minutes. Transfer nuts to a plate or sheet of foil to cool. Store in an airtight container and use on salads, soups or cooked fruit (like a baked apple) for dessert.
This is, of course, a recipe you can adapt to include your favorite warming spices. Please share your variations, and enjoy the season!