This is a compound of apples and cider boiled together till of the
consistence of soft butter. It is a very good article on the tea-table,
or at luncheon. It can only be made of sweet new cider
fresh from the press, and not yet fermented.
Fill a very large kettle with cider, and boil it till reduced to
one half the original quantity. Then have ready some fine juicy
apples, pared, cored, and quartered; and put as many into the
kettle as can be kept moist by the cider. Stir it frequently, and
when the apples are stewed quite soft, take them out with a
skimmer that has holes in it, and put them into a tub. Then add
more apples to the cider, and stew them soft in the same manner,
stirring them nearly all the time with a stick. Have at hand some
more cider ready boiled, to thin the apple butter in case you
should find it too thick in the kettle.
If you make a large quantity, (and it is not worth while to
prepare apple butter on a small scale,) it will take a day to stew
the apples. At night leave them to cool in the tubs, (which must
be covered with cloths,) and finish next day by boiling the apple
and cider again till the consistence is that of soft marmalade,
and the colour a very dark brown.
Twenty minutes or half an hour before you finally take it from the
fire, add powdered cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to your taste. If
the spice is boiled too long, it will lose its flavour.
When it is cold, put it into stone jars, and cover it closely. If
it has been well made, and sufficiently boiled, it will keep a
year or more.
It must not he boiled in a brass or bell-metal kettle, on account
of the verdigris which the acid will collect in it, and which will
render the apple butter extremely unwholesome, not to say,
poisonous.