Baked Apple Butter

"It's a smile, it's a kiss, it's a sip of wine, it's summertime!" Kenny Chesney

TODAY'S SEEDS OF WISDOM

• JUST BLOOMED TODAY 
• THE ADVENTURES OF TEXTFROMDOG
• TWEET TREATS
• DID YOU KNOW...?
• GARDEN UPDATE
• FAUNA
• GARDEN GIGGLE
• GARDEN GOODIES~SHARE OUR GARDEN RECIPE #0043 BAKED APPLE BUTTER 
• WHAT IN THE WORLD? OVER THE FENCE
• FEEDBACK

JUST BLOOMED TODAY~  

Water Lily

THE ADVENTURES OF TEXTFROMDOG

Bringing you the online adventures of textfromdog by October Jones. You can find him on Facebook. He has discovered that his dog, "Dog", a bulldog, can text him. Each day we will share his texts with you. October's remarks are in green on the right side of the screen, Dog's are on the left.

TWEET TREATS

bringing you the quirky, funniest and most interesting tweets from Twitter that we came across. 

COME FORTH, FIEND- AND TASTE THE COLD STEEL OF MY FABLED BLADE "MARTY"    @Leemanish

DID YOU KNOW...?

That cleaning your outdoor bird feeders with sprigs of lavendar will work great, scrub them clean, smell good and retard algae!

GARDEN UPDATE
Long day today working on the apple butter. Will finish about 6 quart jars today and more tomorrow. Be sure not to miss today's GARDEN GOODIES as I share my family recipe for Baked Apple Butter.


Gave away a bucket of apples today as well as some jam. Good karma awaits those who share their bounty!

GARDEN GIGGLE

 

FAUNA

GARDEN GOODIES~SHARE OUR GARDEN RECIPE #0043 BAKED APPLE BUTTER
This is a keeper family recipe I am sharing today. I always get raves from people who say we should sell it commercially. It is a wonderful tasting non-traditional apple butter, with no lard and has the consistency of thick gravy. The smell in your kitchen and whole house will drive everyone crazy with hunger! That being said, I have to add a disclaimer at the beginning here. This is not a recipe for the non-patient cook! This recipe takes two days to make. The first day there is probably about an hour total that you must pay attention to it, as it can simmer all day by itself with little attention. The second day will be all oven work, which requires you to check the oven about every hour for about 4-5 hours. If you're up for it, here goes!

You Will Need:
(12) lbs apples ( Use green types like Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, etc)
(1) 5 lb bag of sugar
(2) lemons
(3) tsps cinnamon
(1  1/2) tsp ground cloves
dash nutmeg or allspice
(1) cup wine
(1) large soup pot
Room in the fridge for that pot to sit overnight
A metal oven-proof dutch oven or cooking crock with lid
foil covered cookie sheet
canning jars


Instructions:
Rinse apples and cut into quarters. Put in the large soup pot and nearly cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cook gently for several hours on low.

When apples look soft and mushy, remove from heat and puree, then measure. To each cup of pulp, add 1/2 cup of sugar. Then to entire mixture add the grated rind and juice of the two lemons, the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg or allspice.


Bring above ingredients to the boiling point. Remove from heat and add the 1 cup of wine. Chill overnight in fridge.

The next day place some of the puree in your oven-proof crock, leaving about a half-inch to an inch from the top. Keep the rest in reserve, you will be using it as you go along. Place crock on foil-covered cookie sheet ( you will thank me for that tip).Put crock in cold oven. Set oven at 300F.

Permit the apple butter to cook until it thickens. I look for the color to change (from green to brown), and also the smell. As the puree shrinks, fill the crock with the reserve. Once you have added some reserve about twice and then cooked for another hour, transfer what you have done into jars and start with a new batch. Be very careful as the puree is EXTREMELY hot and can take your skin right off if it splashes on you.


Once your jars are done, and have the lids on, process in a water bath for 30 minutes. Then they can be stored in your pantry without refrigeration, until they are opened.


It really is worth all the trouble, when everyone closes their eyes in ecstasy when they taste it!
WHAT IN THE WORLD? OVER THE GARDEN FENCE
On today in American history, people in gardens everywhere were talking about:
1776 The Liberty Bell tolls to announce Declaration of Independence
1950 MacArthur names Commander of Korean Conflict
1951 Paris celebrates 2000th birthday
1960 Francis Gary Powers charged with espionage 
1994 North Korea's "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung dies at age 82
2012 Serena Williams wins her fifth Wimbeldon championship

FEEDBACK

 

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