Apple butter revisited

Gave away a jar of apple butter today, and we all tried a bit.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, as it was a thick spreadable paste with a strong tangy flavour.  Everyone liked it.  Of course, I dumped a lot of sugar into the pot in order to give it a better chance at preservative qualities, and in theory I think there could be a kilogram of sugar between two jars - which was not so appealing.

Either I need to get a sweet apple variety, which does not require added sugar, or to work out the repercussions of not adding sugar to the less sweet varieties.

If you're thinking of making apple butter, I'd recommend giving it a go.  In theory it's a shelf stable preserve that does not require pectin for it to set.  Really, really simple to make.

Bottling My Apple Cider Vinegar

I was a little hesitant to pick most of the reachable apples from the one of the better roadside apple trees last autumn, but I did it in small amounts, and no-one else seemed to want them.  Most of the roadside apples I gathered from that tree, as well as all the others were juiced and put into containers under the hot water cylinder.

There the most attention they saw, was the mice climbing on top and leaving droppings.  Yum!

I bottled one too soon, and it turned into rather undrinkable apple cider.  Not acidic in any way, just a bit musty in flavour.    The other, I left in there ignoring it, hoping it wouldn't get moldy.

Here it is:



And bottled up, turning out to be around 3.5 litres:



A huge success.  I reused the Bragg's bottles I bought, and they are still accurate.  They would indeed be organic raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar.  And the liquid inside looks pretty much the same as the original Bragg's vinegar.  Next year, I'm going to double the amount I make.  I just have to find a use for it.

Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

I gathered road side apples and juiced them this year, then put the juice in two containers in the hot water cupboard.

The first batch I added the remnants of a Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother bottle to it.  It went straight to alcohol, and seems to still be alcohol.  I guess it is probably apple cider now.

The second batch (pictured below) was just apple juice.  Unfortunately, I didn't keep an eye on it, and while it quickly turned to vinegar, the mother went moldy.  As I understand it, as long as you remove the mold while it's still white on fermented products, it's supposed to be safe.

What to do with this?  It looks quite good, and similar to the Bragg's vinegar.

One use I've seen recommended for it, is to water the citrus or blueberries with, as both like an slightly more acid soil.