First Time Canning – Apple Butter

Oh, how I love the Daring Cook Challenges!

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

I’ve always wanted to try canning, but never have. I was sure it was overly complicated, and once I started reading up for this challenge, it did seem like it would be hard.

For this challenge, I made apple butter. I cut and peeled A LOT of apples, simmered them on the stove, and added all the spices to make my house smell heavenly.

 

After I made the apple butter, I proceeded with all the steps for canning. I was so worried it wouldn’t seal, but it did! I heard this lovely little ping sound as it was sitting and cooling on my counter and the next day I double checked that the seal was intact and it was! I was so proud of myself.

The disappointing part of this whole experience is that I cooked about 5 pounds of apples, but only got one pint out of it all. I had visions of sending my dad and mom both a jar, but that’s not going to be happening this time around. Oh well…I can always try again and now I know what to expect.

Overall, it was another fun experience. While canning does have lots of technical information, it’s really not THAT hard. And considering that I like to make BIG batches of things, this opens up another option for me when it comes to food preservation. I don’t have to freeze everything!

There’s no doubt that you will see more canning from me soon (I’m thinking Jalapeno Jelly is calling my name) – after all, I have 11 canning jars patiently waiting for me.

If you are interested in the apple butter recipe I used, you can find it here:
Reduced Sugar Apple Butter from The National Center for Home Food Preservation. I prepared it as directed except I used sugar instead of the sucralose. I also used Golden Delicious apples.