So yes, life happened and I didn’t get the apple butter canned that night, I did it the following morning. Circling the wagons postponed the posting of this post (are you confused yet?).
So, this is about what your apples should look like when they are finished.
Yummy, no?
Next, I take my handy contraption that my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas two years ago and puree the apples.
If you don’t have a handy contraption given to you by your brother-in-law, you can use a blender or even a potato masher, if necessary.
This is what the final product should look like.
Yum-O!
Now, you have a choice to make. Do you want to put the apple butter into jars and can them, or do you want to put them into jars and store them in the refrigerator? I always opt for canning, since I give these away as gifts. I would feel awkward telling people, “Quick! Put it in the fridge!”. Canning isn’t as hard as you think, here’s what I do.
Wash your jars, lids and bands. (Note, you only want to use NEW lids.) Next, put as many jars and lids as you can in a big pot and bring them to a low boil. You also need to put another large pot of water on to boil at this time for the water bath.
Keep them in that pot, nice and toasty warm until you are ready to put the piping hot apple butter in them.
These big funnels really help you ladle the apple butter into the jars. Once you have the apple butter in the jars, leaving about 1/4 inch from the top (called head space). Then, get a hot lid and band from your boiling water. Put the lid on and tighten the band. Be careful not to tighten it too much…just enough. You will finish tightening it after you process them in the water bath.
You need to get the jars into the second pot of boiling water pretty quickly. You also need to have some sort of basket to buffer the jars from the heat, or they will explode. Trust me, I know :) Because I don’t use standard canning equipment, I had to get creative. In this picture, you can see the handle of the contraption I use. It’s the fry basket that came with my first crock pot. I’ve also used a steamer basket.
So, the trick here is that you need to put the jars into the pot and have the water cover the tops of the jars. The water needs to be boiling before you put the jars in. The water may stop boiling initially. Once the water is boiling again, start your timer for 10 minutes.
After the ten minutes are up, lift the jars out with canning tongs and let them cool on a cooling rack. Next, is the best part….the lids will pop. I love to have a bunch of jars out and hear them pop, pop, popping! After they pop and have cooled, finish tightening the lids, tie on some pretty ribbon and there you have it!
Oh, by the way, these are canning tongs.