Hard to say since you don't mention the amount of apples, what percentage are windfalls, or how much water. As you know some added acid is required when using windfalls. How much depends on amount of windfalls used. And you are diluting the vinegar with an unknown amount of water. Plus reducing the sugar to only 1 cup means more free water in the jars.

So bottom line - some real potential issues. Issues that may, or may not, be eliminated by your plan to more than quadruple the BWB processing time normally required.

So why this particular recipe rather than one of the many tested and approved ones?

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply! I was looking at the nchfp apple sauce recipe because what I did is closer to that. I just cooked it much longer and added a little apple cider vinegar. It was about half windfalls. Perhaps, I should not call it Apple butter as it is not spiced and is barely sweetened. Does cooking the apple sauce recipe longer make it less safe or is the main risk factor here the windfalls? I really appreciate you sharing your expertise!

Ok applesauce vs. apple butter. Yeah, different things. :-)

Applesauce is processed much longer than apple butter because it is much thicker and usually chunkier too. It also has to be boiling hot when it goes into the jars.

The instructions when windfall apples are used is 4 T bottled lemon juice per 12 lbs apples. So if you are going to use vinegar instead (which is only 1/2 as acidic as the lemon juice) then 1/4 cup vinegar would not be enough. 4 T = 1/4 cup so you would need 2x as much vinegar (8 T or 1/2 cup vinegar) for approx. 12 lbs of apples. But it wouldn't be enough for more lbs of apples. So you will have to weigh the amount of apples to know how much vinegar to add.

Plus the water amount is restricted to "just enough to prevent sticking" so no more than necessary, especially if the sugar is going to be reduced too. OK?

Dave

Ok, so the problem here is that I neglected to measure the apples. In the future, when should I measure them? Can I use a volume measure or only a weight? For this batch, can I add citric acid by the jar instead? How much? Will this do anything to the flavor? Should I add sugar to compensate? Also, where does it say how much acid to use when using windfalls? I have several apple trees so I usually have windfalls. It there is a chart or something, I would love to print it out for the future. Thanks so much for your help!

Not sure what to say but all canning instructions, like most recipes, are proportional to ALL the ingredients used. They are either in weights or in measurements of cups, quarts, etc. So yeah the problem is not weighing the apples or measuring them in some way that is relative to the rest of the ingredients. If you don't weigh or measure all ingredients then all the rest is just guess work, just making it up as you go along, and that can be very risky in canning. Whether you use weight or volume is usually determined by the recipe used.

So while guess work plays no role in canning, clearly the risk is less when working with acidic foods than with low acid foods. With apples the main concern would be bacteria counts, molds and yeasts rather than botulism, salmonella, etc. and how much risk you are comfortable with taking. Personally I am not tolerant of much risk in my canning efforts since, for the most part, it is unnecessary. But each of us has to determine our own level of comfort.

As to when you measure, that too depends on the instructions you are using. Usually it is up front, first thing as it is the first ingredient on the list. x lbs. or x cups of apples for x tbls. or cups of the other ingredients.

Where does it say how much acid to add for windfalls, is there a chart or something? No chart because the use of windfalls is not recommended in canning. Given the higher bacterial and mold counts, only cooking for fresh use or freezing is recommended. But the guidelines also recognize that some will use them and that is why they added the acidification guidelines additions I listed above back in the 2006 revisions. They are treated like tomatoes - borderline low-acid.

"Add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid per quart of tomatoes. For pints, use one tablespoon bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon citric acid. Acid can be added directly to the jars before filling with product. Add sugar to offset acid taste, if desired. Four tablespoons of a 5 percent acidity vinegar per quart may be used instead of lemon juice or citric acid. However, vinegar may cause undesirable flavor changes." NCHFP Acidifcation Directions http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_intro.html#acidification

Hope this helps clarify it for you.

Dave

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1970823/confused-about-lemon-juice-processing-time-for-applesauce

The link is to a discussion from several years back about using lemon juice with windfalls when making applesauce. It's quite informative.

Rodney