Did you grow up with apple butter? I've recently learned that some people did and some people didn't. When I say that I'm making apple butter, the people who didn't wonder exactly how apples and butter go together. The people who did get a far off look in their eye, dreaming of the spiced, apple-y flavor.
As for me, I did and I didn't. My grandmother made it, and I have vague memories of eating it on toast at her home in West Virginia. (I've heard tell of a huge copper kettle she used to make it in, that an aunt or uncle is now in possession of. But I feel like it should be mine :) Mostly, I remember eating it on biscuits as a surly teenager, in disbelief that I was being forced to eat Christmas dinner in a Cracker Barrel by the airport en route to visit family for the holidays.
In case you didn't grow up eating apple butter, let me tell you this: it tastes like autumn in a jar. Apples cooked for hours, until they carmelize and turn a deep brown, flavored with cinnamon and cloves. It makes your home smell like what a Yankee candle only dreams of smelling like. And the process of making it is the perfect fall activity. If you decide to "put it up" in jars, the boiling water canner makes your windows fog up, which is just about the most cozy way for a window to be.
The apple butter of our grandmother's generation was sweet. So is the kind they sell at Cracker Barrel. When I started making it myself, when I first moved to New York (a normal time to start a granny's hobby, right?), I tinkered with the sugar until I got it down to just a few tablespoons. I prefer to make it with less sugar so the flavor of the apples stands out. Also, so I can eat it straight from the jar and not feel too guilty.
So, if you love apples, cinnamon, and a few hours spent in a warm kitchen, I suggest you make apple butter. Maybe even this weekend. Canned in tiny jars, it makes a tasty, adorable Christmas gift.
