Apple Butter and Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Daring Cooks September Challenge

The challenge for the daring cooks this month was to preserve food. I have been "canning" or bottling my own relish for a while now and know what an involved job it could be, so I decided to try the freezing option for my apple butter instead.

My personal challenge? Cook a MTAOFC recipe that would complement the apple butter (and remember to do it before the September 14 deadline expired). The recipe? Roti de Porc aux Choux - nothing too daring about roast pork and cabbage with apple butter but... the result? Spectacular! The only problem - we wished that we made more apple butter (I frugally made a half serving). Le Gourmand joked that one of the two freezer bags might just disappear...

The pork was browned in a casserole and then the obligatory carrot and onion were cooked slowly with a herb bouquet and two unpeeled garlic cloves for five minutes. The pork was then cooked in a slow oven for about and hour before I added a lot of cabbage boiled for two minutes, with carraway, salt and pepper, brought the casserole to a simmer and returned it to the oven for another 30-40 minutes, basting the meat juices through the cabbage.

Meanwhile the apple butter had been cooking away, as I diligently followed the directions so that there was no ring of liquid around the final product. I have cooked apple sauce before but apple butter adds a whole different, delicious dimension to the flavour profile. And it goes beautifully with the pork and cabbage (and the toast I had it on for dessert) - Le Gourmand will be a pork lover yet!

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

Being pregnant I was not keen to use artificial sweetner so I used sugar and Granny Smith Apples (my favourite), and halved the apple cider content, but the reduced sugar option follows. I peeled and cored my apples and mashed them in the pot (they were so broken down I really just needed to stir them) and then took some of the apple mixture out and blended it with the sugar and spice before returning it to the pot as I don't have a stick blender.

Recipe: Reduced Sugar Apple Butter

2kg apples, cut into eights and cored (peel if you like)

1 cup Apple Cider (Optional: Water or Juice)
1/2 cup Sucralose/Splenda (Optional: Honey, Agave or Sugar - to taste)
1 Tbl Cinnamon, Ground
1/2 tsp Allspice, Ground
1/4 tsp Cloves, Ground

Note: * If you used peeled and cored apples. I recommend buying 5 lbs (2.26 kg) of apples

1. Wash apples well and remove stems. Cut apples into quarters or eighths and remove cores.
Note: I ended up peeling the apple at this step.

2. Combine unpeeled apples and cider in 8-quart (about 7 ½ litre) saucepan. Cook slowly and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook until apples are very soft (falling apart).

3. Position a food mill or strainer securely over a large bowl. Press cooked apples with cider through the food mill or strainer to make a pulp. Be sure to collect all the pulp that comes through the food mill or strainer; for example, scrape any pulp clinging under the food mill into the bowl.
Note: Since the apples were peeled, I just mashed in the pot.

4. Combine pulp with Sucralose and spices in an 8-quart (about 7 ½ litre) saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently.
Note: A stick blender can be used to mix the spices and creates a smoother apple butter. Also, when cooking down the apples, you want to leave the lid ajar or use a splatter screen. This will allow for evaporation. Another trick is to support the lid by laying two wooden spoons across the top of the pot.

5. To test for doneness, spoon a small quantity onto a clean plate; when the butter mounds on the plate without liquid separating around the edge of the butter, it is ready for processing. Another way to test for doneness is to remove a spoonful of the cooked butter on a spoon and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.

6. Pour contents into desired storage container or multiple containers. I stored my apple butter in 1-cup (250ml) plastic containers with screw on tops. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks, freeze up to a year, and home canning is good for a year.

* The Finished Apple Butter:Apple Butter is often used as a spread. However, apple butter can also be used as a condiment (pork chops or in marinades) or as an ingredient to an apple quick bread.

* Freezing:I used a freezer bag where I expelled as much air as possible and minimized the gaps in the bag. Freezer bags work well for storage since they can lay flatter in the freezer than containers.

With a container, you need to ensure you have “headspace”. Headspace is the gap between the food (or liquid level) and the top of the container. Typical, headspace when freezing foods is 1/2 “ (1.27 cm) for straight sided containers. As mentioned previously, water expands when freezing. The headspace allows room for expansion.Thawing: The best method (Food Safety) is to thaw in the refrigerator for a day.Cold water, 70ºF (21ºC) or lower, can be used for as quicker way to defrost. The frozen food is submerged under running water. An alternative to running water is to change the water every 30 minutes. If you need an even faster method to defrost and you plan to cook the food immediately, the microwave is another method (of last resort).