You MUSY Try this: Crock Pot Apple Butter

This Season's Discovery: Crock Pot Apple Butter

It Montana apple season, and they're coming in droves!

I have fond memories from being 7 or 8 years old and going to an apple orchard. It must have been in Nebraska, where we were living at the time, and I remember cider, hay rides, and all around fall fun. Maybe that's why when we had the chance to buy a house with three mature apple trees, we jumped on it.

Apple can seem so blah when all you eat or buy are the red apples from Wal-Mart and they are the same, bland fruit over and over. We are so fortunate in Montana to have great apple weather and tons of varietals of apple. This week in our CSA box we received several bags of beautiful pinkish apples, sweet but crisp. We've eaten plenty raw, but with the extras today I am making the easiest and most delicious and easily storable item, APPLE BUTTER!

My grandmother's made this beautiful concoction, but this year is the first I have ever tried it. It amazingly simple, totally cannable, freezable, and store in the fridgeable, and I have some in my crock pot right now! We eat it on bread, in yogurt, on pancakes, or by the spoonful for a treat. Try it, its easy.

You'll need:

A crock pot (our is medium sized, not large and it works fine)

A sharp knife

A vegetable peeler

1 Cup Sweetener (sugar, honey, Steevia, what have you)

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

Apples (any variety, about a dozen medium sized for us)

Here's How:

Peel your apples and cut them into quarters. Don't use the core. 

Put them all in the crock pot while it is still off. 

Add your sweetener, vinegar, and cinnamon. 

Put the lid on and turn your crock pot on high for the first hour. 

Turn it back to low and allow it to go ALL DAY, eight hours or more. 

For the last hour take the lid off, turn it to high and let it bubble with the lid off. Occasionally give the contents a stir throughout the day but no need to babysit it. 

When finished, it is molten hot. Your can store it in canning jars in the fridge, but allow it to cool overnight before you put the lid on and put it in the fridge. You can also can it, but I have not attempted this yet.