Apple Budda

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Budda
budda
Apple Budda!

Last year I made my first batch of Apple Butter,

and I was HOOKED!
so this year I knew I had to make some more.

First I cut up enough apple to fill my crock-pot

Then I dumped about 3 cups of sugar on top

and I sprinkled it with generous amounts of cinnamon and cloves
I would have use nutmeg too, but I was out

Then I stirred it all up and added a couple of cups of water.
I turned my crock-pot on low
and went to bed.

I had yummy cinnamon apple dreams…the house smelled wonderful!

In the morning this is what it looked like.

Brown and bubbly and cooked nice and soft.

At this point you could run it through a food mill

but I like it chunky, and I just bottle it like it is here.

Once I got my first batch processing I started on the second one.
I cut up enough apples to fill my big pot,
adding the same amount of sugar and spices.

I don’t follow a recipe when it comes to the sugar and spices,
I just do what tastes good to me
and I like my budda sweet!


I brought it to a boil and let it cook for about an hour
it cooks down quite a bit.

The apples need to be nice and soft and spreadable.

Now, that is where I ran into a problem with my second batch.
I am not patient enough.
I was wanting to get this done, so I took them off a little too soon and the apples didn’t get as soft as I really liked.

Oh well

It still tastes yummy, it is just a little chunkier.



I process them in a water bath for 20 minutes

(that time is adjusted for my altitude)


Here are the bottles from batch one and batch two.
It is easy to tell the difference.

YUMMY!

APPLE BUDDA!

Today (Wednesday) I made spiced apple syrup with the apple juice I made the day before…..stay tuned!

BTW
You should smell my house!

The Season

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Nothing says Autumn to me like fresh picked apples.

Dadzoo picked up 4 boxes for me to can. I have decided that I really, really like to can. When the economy collapses and Dadzoo loses his job and we camping out back on the mountain we are going to have apples! (and jam of coarse!) (oh, and about 400 pounds of wheat)

Yesterday I took two of the boxes and make apples in light syrup.

I spend hours and hours and hours peeling and coring and slicing those apples….

Oh fine, it took me about an hour to peel, core and slice two boxes of apples, and the reason it took that long was because I had helpers. One of the cores broke open and Punk #4 exclaimed “APPLE BEADS!” she then started to break open all the cores to collect the beads. I explained to her that they were seeds, and inside there will little baby apple trees. She wanted to know if I would let her tuck her beads into the dirt and grow apple trees! I love kids!

I put all the slices in a big fat bowls and stirred in a little lemon juice so they would keep their color better.

This is my big pile of cores and peels (at least half of it, I had another big pile on the counter top.)

I put the apples in a big pot and poured boiling sugar syrup over the top (I added a little cinnamon to the syrup). I brought the whole pot to a rolling boil and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

I then packed the apples into quart jars and poured the syrup over the top. I processed them for 40 minutes in a water bath.

Once I was done with the apple slices I put as many of the peelings and cores into my big stock pot as I could fit. I covered it all with water and brought it to a boil. I let it simmer on the stove for 2 hours, until everything was soft and all the color was boiled out of the peels.


I once used a jelly bag, and found it messy and awkward, so I came up with this little contraption to extract my juice.

I poured the juice and the cooked apples into the colander on top and let it sit for at least 2 hours, over night is even better, but I am not patient enough for that! Once it was finished dripping I poured the juice into a big picture and put it into the fridge, I am going to make spiced apple syrup on Wednesday. I threw the peels and cores in the compost pit.


 Here are all my jars, done and pretty.

I got 18 quart from two boxes of apples and I am figuring I will get about 24 pints of apple syrup. Not too bad.

Today (Tuesday) I made two batches of apple butter…..stay tuned!

 

Some Questions Answered….

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When people ask me questions in my comment section I never know for sure where to answer them. Do I answer in my own comment section? Do I e-mail them? Or do I leave the answer in their comment section?

Anyway, there were a few questions asked on my last post that I would like to answer here.

First I was asked by several people if it was freezer jam or regular jam. It is regular jam. As a rule that is the only type of jam I make. When I was first married I made a bunch of freezer jam only to realise that my tiny freezer couldn’t hold it all plus the other items we needed in there. I also figure that my jam is part of my food storage, and if something were to happen and the power was off for a while I didn’t want to lose it all when, with only a few extra steps, I could preserve it and store it without refrigeration. I figure if we were hit with a major disaster we could survive on peanut butter and jam!

I was also asked where I got the raspberries. I bought them at a veggie/fruit stand in a neighboring city. If you want to find local produce, either stands or pick your own go here.

I was also asked for the recipe…well my dear blogging friends…I wish I had some fabulous recipe to share, but I don’t…I just followed the instructions on the insert of my package of pectin.

My blogging friend Tereza, after seeing this post, wanted to know where I live. With out giving away specifics I will say that I live in the beautiful state of Utah. I love the mountains and the wide open spaces. I live about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake City in a new little city. When I wake up in the morning the sun rises over Mount Timp. (can’t spell the whole name) and it sets over our “own” little Lake Mountain. My back yard butts up against 1,000 zillion acers of nothing but wild grasses and sage brush.

So there you go, some questions answered

As a side note, I have to tell you the story behind these pictures. I had the camera in my hand and was taking pictures of her foot when we started talking about all the things she couldn’t do and all the things she needed to be careful doing. Now, my #2 punk is a major drama queen. So when she started wailing that her life was over Dadzoo and I started laughing, in turn she drops her head and starts crying. I already had the camera in my hand, so I figured why not snap some pictures. Everytime I see that picture I start laughing, she was being such a DRAMA!