Apple Butter Made With Crabapples

Crabapple Butter Recipe

10 lbs. Crabapples

1 Orange Peel (Optional)

4 cups Sugar

2 tsp. Molasses

2 tsp. Salt

1 TBS. +1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Wash the crabapples and cut off the stems and blossoms. Cook the crabapples and the orange peel, if you choose, in a large pot with a some water (about 2 cups), covered until the apples are soft and mushy (about 20-30 minutes).

 Use a Victoria Strainer to process the crabapples. This will eliminate the seeds, skins, and orange peel. 

Place the resulting apple sauce into a large roaster pan. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cook the apple butter in a oven at 350° F. for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the apple butter reaches the desired thickness. 

Pour the apple butter into prepared jars. Apply lids and screw bands. Water bath pints for 20 minutes.  This recipe yields a smidge over 7 pints. 

I have picked crabapples off of the tree at the park for 3 years. The first year I made crabapple jelly. The next year I tried crabapple butter. And apple butter is what I opted for this year, too. 

This is an Apple Butter recipe that I have modified from Chef Jon. To see his original recipe click HERE.

I am sharing this recipe because it has turned out so good and I don't want to forget how I made it when I want to make apple butter next year. 

Last year I cut the crabapples in 1/4ers. But this year I found that that was unnecessary. I cooked the crabapples whole without any issue. I just cut the stems off because I thought they might jam up the strainer. And, I cut off the blossoms because I thought the tiny hairs would come through the strainer. The hairs from the blossoms would probably be unnoticeable in the final product. I may skip that step next year and see how it turns out.

This year I  added two orange peels to the apples while they cooked, on a whim. I was very pleased with the how the flavor turned out. But, the orange peels are totally optional. If you have some, I suggest throwing them in. If not, that is fine. The apple butter will be great either way.

The amount of sugar in Chef Jon's recipe is much less than the amount in other recipes that I have seen. For example the Ball Canning recipe for Apple Butter called for 4 lbs. of apples and 4 cups of sugar. Chef Jon's recipe calls for 5 lbs. of apples and 2 cups of sugar. Apples are acidic enough to water bath safely without any sugar added. You don't have to worry about the safety of cutting back the sugar in the Apple Butter. I think the amount of sugar in this recipe is just right.