My daughter Griffin and I spent all day last Saturday canning fruit that we had harvested over the summer. A skill I learned from my mother, canning has turned into a Fall ritual. Friends are always amazed at how many jars we can produce in a day, but the process is fairly easy especially when you have two people in the kitchen. We made pear butter, apple butter, strawberry jam and tomato sauce.
After harvesting ripe fruit, I peel, clean, chopped and store 4 cup portions in the freezer. On canning day, I just have to pull the fruit from the freeze, let it thaw and it is already broken down which shortens the cooking process.
We use an emulsifier to pulverize the cooked fruit to get it closer to the canning consistency.
After pulverizing the fruit, we transfer it in batches to a Vitamix blender to puree it even more (be very careful as the puree is very hot) and then return it to the Dutch Oven to continue cooking.
Below is a photo of the beginning of the tomato sauce. Again, I freeze the tomatoes prior to making the sauce.
Tomato sauce ready to be canned.
The following is the recipe we used for both the apple and pear butter. We added a bit more cinnamon to the apple butter as we prefer a bit more flavor in the apple butter.
The most exciting part of canning the apple and pear butter this year, is that we used our own honey from the property. I will post the harvesting of the honey in a separate post later this week.
Pear or Apple Butter Recipe
12 cups of chopped fruit (pear or apple)
I used a mixture of apples as I have many varieties on the property.
6 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon (more for apple butter, to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground gloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly shaved nutmeg
Stir all ingredients together in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 50 minutes, covering so that the lid is slightly open. Stir occasionally to make sure the bottom does not burn. Once reduced and thickened, remove from heat and transfer in batches to a food processor or Vitamix Blender and pulse until smooth. I like my “butters” to be smooth, but if you prefer a chunkier consistency, process until you have the consistency desired.
Transfer to canning jars, and put in water bath for 10 minutes. Pull jars and set aside to cool until the jars seal.
I love to spread the butters on toasted bread. I also use them as a spread when serving cheese and also on roast chicken and pork. Enjoy!
