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INGREDIENTS 12 medium apples, quartered 6 large plums, quartered and pitted 1/2 lemon 2 cups sugar DIRECTIONS Place apples and plums in a deep pot, squeeze lemon juice over all and stir to coat. Add enough cool water to almost cover the fruit. Bring to a boil on high heat, then lower heat to simmer, cover and let cook one hour. Stir occasionally to break up fruit. Using a food mill or fine sieve, remove peel and seeds, to create smooth fruit pulp puree. Return puree to pot, bring to a boil and cook one hour to thicken, stirring occasionally. At this point, you have two choices—stir in sugar and continue to cook in the same pot, stirring every hour to prevent sticking OR stir in sugar and place sweetened puree in a slow cooker for 8-10 hours. Open kettle cooking will produce a thicker butter, but you have to stir the mixture so it won’t stick and burn. The slow cooker lets you go to sleep or leave the house, but the resulting butter will be a little thinner since the slow cooker retains more moisture. No matter the method, eventually, your butter will be ready to jar and process. Using clean, freshly boiled, hot jars, pour butter into jars, wipe rims and seal. Place jars in a large pot with enough water to cover and bring water to boil. Let process (boil) for 12 minutes at a full boil. Carefully remove jars using tongs and oven mitts and place on towels to cool. If all has gone well, as the jars cool, you will hear them pop to indicate a vacuum seal. Label and date jars, then store in a dark, cool closet or cabinet, away from heat and humidity (preferably not in the kitchen, if possible). Store any jars that do not seal in the refrigerator and eat as soon as possible. Copyright © 2009 Stefanie Samara Hamblen |
