Cooking apples in a little cider (or water, but cider tastes better :-) and sugar to taste with a few spices is all I ever do. I might add some lemon juice (just to brighten the flavors) but that's it. I don't see any reason to put vinegar in apple butter. Sounds yucky actually.

It's a taste preference issue primarily. Personally we much prefer the taste of the vinegar recipes like the one at NCHFP than any of the ones without it that we have tried. Otherwise it is like eating cinnamon flavored applesauce. It also gives it a much longer shelf and fridge life.

Cider, sure,, it makes a big difference IMO. But just plain water? No now that sounds yucky to me.

Dave

I always use cider vinegar in my Apple Butter. For many years I made it without cider vinegar and thought it was okay.

Then I met the little old lady that use to beat me every year at the county fair in the plum jelly category. She also got blue ribbons for her fruit butters/spread (not sure the category back then). I tasted hers and knew hers was so much better than my families recipes.

Her recipe was 50 or so years old and she gave it to me in 1978...so I am carrying on her recipe some 34 years later.

Apples. Half Water and Half Cider Vinegar to barely cover half the apples in the pot.

Cook till soft...sieve pulp thru mill to get out any seeds you missed. Put pulp back into pot. There may be some juice left in pot but check it for any pits or strain them out before returning pot to stove.

Add a fair amount of sugar and cook till thickened to your desired consistency. ( I prefer an applesauce thickness so it won't be too thick when refrigerated.

Taste.

Add more sugar and more Cider Vinegar as needed for taste. Add Cinnamon and cook some more. Ladle into jars. Water Bath them for 10 mins.

I use the same tech for plums but now days I add other spices like fresh grated ginger and fresh nutmeg. Or I will leave out cinnamon and just make it with chopped ginger and lemon zest.

I will never make fruit butter without cider vinegar again. That old lady taught me well.

Thanks all. We do prefer our apple butter without cinnamon or other spices and with minimal sugar. I add very little water - just enough that the apples don't stick. I may try adding cider this year.

The vinegar can also be helpful is you're using windfall apples as they're lower-acid. Any bruised apples will have a higher pH.

I think it also depends on the variety of apple you're using for apple butter. I can see that vinegar would add a pleasant counterpoint, especially with a variety that's sweeter and/or bland.

Carol

prefer our apple butter without cinnamon or other spices and with minimal sugar. I add very little water

That is what applesauce is - apples, a little water, no spices and minimal sugar. So how does your apple butter differ from plain applesauce?

Dave

The difference for me is in the cooking. Apple butter is basically reduced (by several hours of cooking) applesauce. Thick and brown, with an intense apple flavor.

I was ripe for a new idea (three fruit trees harvested, two to go) so I tried this tek last night with some Enterprise apples (a Macintosh type). I used only one-third cider vinegar in the initial cooking water, and I'm glad I reduced it because the flavor got a little sharp. The biggest benefit for me was that the vinegar helps get more color from the apples. I prepped the same apples in plain water two days ago and the pulp came out of the mill pinkish blonde. With vinegar in the water, I got a deep pink applesauce that quickly darkened a few shades when I started cooking it down.

Our apples are never sprayed, so I like to keep skins in the picture for color and nutrients, and the vinegar enhances this effect and produces a very brightly flavored butter.

I make my apple butter without any added sugar. I sometimes add a little water or apple cider. I have never added vinegar or lemon juice. I have also never canned it before. Can I can it without adding sugar? I cannot imagine adding sugar (or fake sugar) because when I cook it down, it is incredible sweet already. I would be ok with adding vinegar or lemon juice if it is necessary. So what do you recommend?
Thanks!

Just shows how taste buds vary. :) I find AB with no sugar added at all to be very sharp tasting, not at all sweet, even when using Gala apples. I would definitely taste it well before filling the jars and keep in mind that the flavor will fade over time on the shelf.

But yes you can skip the sugar if you wish but since sugar provides so much of the water binding (thickening) then, just as with low or no sugar jams, you will get much more separation in the jars and a more runny butter.

You only need the lemon juice or vinegar if you are using ground picks/windfall apples.

Dave

Basically it will be a cooked-down spiced applesauce rather than an apple butter. Without the sugar the usual pectin bonds won't form.

I'm not sure what is meant by fake sugar but it isn't necessary for safety and neither is additional acid, so if that's the way you prefer, go for it.

However, I'd recommend the processing time for applesauce, not the one for apple butter.

Carol

Thanks for the responses! When I said fake sugar, I meant the artificial sugar substitutes that are included in some recipes.

Is the processing time the same for pints and half-pints?

Yes if no specific time is given for half pints in the recipe instructions then they need to be processed for the pint time.

Dave

I tried the vinegar, with great skepticism. Amazed how it brightens the apple flavour without any taste of vinegar itself.

Yea! Another vinegar-works-in-apple-butter convert! :)

Dave

Thanks, Dave - it was your recommendation encouraged me to try it - adding gradually and tasting. It works! No going back, now :)

Here's my view:

Applesauce is cooked apples usually without sugar or spices though sometimes a little cinnamon is added and a smattering of sugar if the apples are very tart. It is always slightly "grainy" or textured and not cooked for very long. It is not usually very dark as it stays the color of cooked apples - light honey colored.

Apple Butter is a mixture of apple varieties and always includes spices usually cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. It is cooked for hours to concentrate and break down the cells of the apples until it is like butter and reduced by half. It is very dark like ? cooked pumpkin, ? light brown sugar, ? maple syrup?

For my award winning apple butter I cook 5 varieties of apples with last year's unsweetened applesauce made with sweet apples, some apple cider vinegar (about 1 cup to a gallon), water just to soften before using the Squeezo, and the spices I mentioned above. I do not add sugar to the jars I can for unsweetened apple butter and add both white and brown sugar for the sweetened apple butter jars. It cooks in a huge roaster for 20 hours. I then put it in batches through the blender set on liquify. I bring it back to boil in small batches in preserving pans (with a screen over it to catch the lava eruptions) and can it in half-pint and pint jars. BWB 10.

I believe the best applesauce or apple butter contains at least 3 varieties of apples. I am fortunate to have a lady farmer friend in the mountains with several hundred apple trees and 17 varieties. Each year I go and ask her what combo to use for what I am making this season (applesauce, apple butter, fresh apple pie and tarts, canned apple pie filling, apple pie jam, and dried apples). The bushels of apples smell absolutely wonderful all the way home (5 hours) and stays fragrant in the car for a week!

Nancy

I tried a very old receipe this year, that turned out very well. For every four quarts of cooked apples, it calls for 1/4 cup of cider vinegar, two quarts of sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice to taste. ( Lots of cinnamon) .Then It goes into a 300 degree oven
( I used a huge roasting pan).
Stir occasionally.To test, put a small sample on a saucer and let it cool. If it mounds up on a spoon it is ready to put in jars. This took about 5 hours, but it beats having to simmer and worry about scorching, and the house smelled wonderful. I used pint jars. The recipe was for open kettle, but I gave them ten minutes in the water bath.

I love using the oven method.

Tangrene, can you please share your apple butter recipe with the apple cider vinegar? Thanks so much!!

Hi everyone,

I am new to making apple butter. First attempt came out great. However, for the second (and much larger batch) I tried the recipe with apple cider vinegar. I didn't use quite as much as it said to and yet it seems to have overpowered the butter so far. It's still cooking thougg. What can I do at this point to dilute that vinegar taste OR will it not be as overwhelming once the process is done?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Just for clarification, which specific recipe with apple cider vinegar did you use? There are at least 3 different ones in this thread plus the one at NCHFP as well as some in other books and they are all different.

Apple Butter with cider vinegar is a different flavor from that made without it. And as this discussion shows some don't care for it no matter which recipe they use.

The vinegar flavor will not decrease much at all with cooking so depending on the recipe you used all you can do is add more sugar and maybe a little more apples.

Dave

I am going to have to search on here for a good apple butter recipe. All of you have peeked my interest! I have never made apple butter. I'll have to invest in a food mill or something, as I guess you don't peel them. I am also wondering what a Sqeezo is, lol.

Squeezo is just a brand name of food mill like Roma, Victorio, Foley, Villaware, etc. Some are simple presses, others are much more mechanical.

Types of food mills/press/strainer

Actually the approved instructions do call for peeling the apples but some choose to ignore that.

NCHFP - Apple Butter

Dave

Thanks Dave.

Here is a link to the recipe I used.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/

Not really considered a good source for canning recipes as they are untested for safety, especially for low-acid foods. If you compare that recipe to one of the approved ones you'll notice it is quite watered down - unusual IME to add water rather than apple cider to apple butter much less that much water.

It is probably safe for canning since it also has lemon juice added (also unusual) but I can see how the flavor might not appeal. Best to stick with recipes that are USDA approved for canning. Suggest you pick up a copy of one of the Ball Canning books.

Dave

Thanks. Will do

Great! And another one bites the dust and goes pro vinegar !! :-)

Dave

I made the NCHFP apple butter recipe with the vinegar and really love the taste. I read the recipe again and noticed that I forgot to put in the brown sugar. In other words, I used half the sugar that was called for in the recipe. From other posts on this forum I've gleaned that my apple butter is still safe but texture may be different from full sugar. Do I have that correct?

" I've gleaned that my apple butter is still safe but texture may be different from full sugar. Do I have that correct?"

Yep you are correct. ;-)

Dave

I read that post about the little old lady and her cider vinegar addition. However, somehow I turned that around in my head, as one does, and thought I should add apple cider. Which turned out to be an addition that my family and I loved. The little grand nieces, of which there are 4 under the age of 4, adore the stuff. Happy accident.

Can you use citric acid when using windfalls instead of the vinegar? I do like the taste of the vinegar, but I am just wondering because I don't see t listed in fruit recipes like in the tomato recipes.

In theory you could but I don't know that the amount of citric acid needed has ever been figured out. All you could do is extrapolate from the tomato acidification guidelines and doing that could be risky.

Most of the apple recipes I know of recommend against using windfall apples because of the substantial increase in bacterial count.

Dave

Just canned up some apple butter today and love it. I used Annie's Grandma's Old Fashioned Apple Butter recipe which uses apple cider. Don't know if making it with cider made it better or not, but I know I really like the results and will continue using it since I still have about 2 pecks of apples to use up. Oh, and I did let it cook down in the oven like Annie does.

Madonna

I personally don't use vinegar but I do use cider. I also make it in a crock pot- no more scorching and I can get other things done too! My family loves it and I give it as gifts at Christmas and they give back the jars for refills!