Apple Butter, YUMMY!

This weekend we got together with some Christian friends for a retreat.  One of the things we did, was make homemade apple butter.  If you have not had the pleasure of trying some, you are missing out!  It is wonderful!  I forgot my camera the first night, sorry.  The first night we peeled, cored, and slice bushel after bushel of apples.  They were super good!  I had to eat one, it was so sweet!

Saturday morning the kettles were started at 6 a.m.!  We use a combination of unsweetened apple sauce and fresh apples.  This is what it looked like about 1 p.m.

The apple mix must be stirred constantly!  Brand new pennies are added to the bottom of the pot to keep it from sticking.  We used large homemade paddles with long handles for stirring.

Once all the liquid has cooked out of the apples, and it is the consistency of thick apple sauce, you add the sugar.  I  have no clue how much sugar went into this, but it was a LOT!  Oh, there were five large copper kettles of this stuff.  After the sugar cooks down and mixes in, which takes a couple hours or more, you add cinnamon oil.  It has to be cinnamon oil.  Strong stuff, but oh so good!  The end result is a sweet, spicy mix.

 

Putting the HOT apple butter into jars.  The apple butter is hot enough that it will seal the jars without any extra processing.  The first kettle was done around 4 or 5 in the afternoon.  The last kettle finished about 6.

Here are a few of my jars of apple butter, we've already eaten two small pints (6 ounce jars).  It is so good on toast, or biscuits or you can try the sandwich recipe I'm including.

This sandwich is from Revolutionary Soup on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, VA.
It is called the Adam's Apple Sandwich.
Ingredients:
Sunflower Wheat bread (they get theirs from Bread Works Bakery on Preston Ave., you can too!)
Chevre cheese (this is a soft white cheese, you can find at any local grocery store.)
Granny smith apple
bacon
apple butter
garlic aioli (there are lots of recipes on line for this, but you don't have to add it to the sandwich, it is fine without it)
arugula (again, if you don't have it, almost any lettuce will do.)
turkey

Directions:
lightly toast the bread
spread each slice with a thin layer of apple butter
add slices of bacon to each side
add chevre cheese to each side
add thinly sliced granny smith apples to one side
add several slices of turkey.  put your sandwich together and enjoy!  It is also really good with soup!

Hope you all will try this sandwich and enjoy!
Melissa