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Post by Chuckie on Dec 22, 2014 15:21:45 GMT -5
Several folks have asked about making apple butter in the thermowell over the years, and I was gonna try it this year, BUT was running outta T-I-M-E (the butter is to be Christmas presents!). We had a beer box of Arkansas Black Apples left from our tree, and stored in "the black hole"--the back bedroom that isn't (normally) heated. We have GUESTS coming for Christmas, so Monkey said "do something w/these apples!" The recipe I had called for two cups of water to be added to the apples. It took 34 apples to fill the well the first time--but some were the size of GRAPEFRUITS almost!! The last batch took WAY MORE, as they were about the size of crab apples: I put them in the well, 25 minutes gas, then left them there for two hours--cooked down PERFECTLY! (they might be ready in ONE hour, as the recipe says "about 30 minutes" & I had other things to do). I then ran them through Aunt Gertrude's colander--which I never knew was called a " chinois" before I googled it!! IF you're gonna do much of this stuff, these things are really a NECESSITY!! Here it is unassembled & then assembled:Put together:This one is an antique & I don't believe they make them like that anymore, BUT they DO make them on a three legged stand. Here's what it looks like after you run it through the chinois: The pulp is that colour due to the the VERY dark colour of the skins on the Arkansas Black Apples; regular apples normally cook out as a pale yellow (think applesauce). Again, I didn't have the luxury of doing it in batches in the thermowell, as I wound up w/about 26 cups of the stuff! I made 13 pints of apple butter today, AND TWELVE .5# rolls of jalapeno summer sausage for Christmas gifts--a VERY productive morning!! The recipe for the sausage is posted here: chamberscommune.proboards.com/thread/2469/summer-sausageHere's the jars cooling & the jalapeno summer sausage ready to be smoked/cooked: Maybe next Fall I'll have enough time to try cooking it all the way through in the thermowell. I will 'update' this post if I do! CHEERS! Chuckie p.s.--the sausage looks NASTY raw, here's the finished product:
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Post by mach12 on Dec 23, 2014 13:23:48 GMT -5
I've never seen a chinois like that. That's really, really cool! I have one of the three legged style that you mentioned (belonged to my mother) but never actually used it. For years we used a Foley Food Mill but eventually saved up enough to buy a Squeezo Strainer that we used to see all the time in magazines like Mother Earth News. They're just plain awesome! They were off the market for quite awhile but I saw an ad where they're making them again. Apples are really plentiful here in WA State and grow wild all over the place, free for the picking, and every year the cold storage places sell off the previous years apples at bargain basement prices to make room, so we've always made a lot of apple sauce, apple butter, dried apples and so on. Another thing we like to do is can quart jars of apple pie filling. That way we can do a quick apple pie by dumping it into a crust and tossing it into the oven, or a quick apple crisp. And apple sauce is excellent mixed into pancake or waffle mix, muffins and a lot of other stuff. With apple butter spread on them. Speaking of apple butter, when I look at home canning cookbooks the first thing I look for is an apple butter recipe and a lot don't have one. All of the books I've found with apple butter recipes seem to have the best "down home" recipes for other stuff too.
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Post by Chuckie on Dec 23, 2014 23:05:50 GMT -5
All of the books I've found with apple butter recipes seem to have the best "down home" recipes for other stuff too. The NEW recipes, however, (that I've found online) do NOT have apple cider VINEGAR in them though! I KNEW we had a recipe for it when Monkey was still selling @ Farmers Market, as that was one of her biggest sellers--apple butter! We finally found the book--it was an old Kerr one--the coupons in the back expired in 1989 I believe, if that gives you any indication!! Anyhow, IT had the A.C. vinegar in it, and we'd also penciled in what other spices we added over the years. BTW, the name on the bottom of the chinois APPEARS to be "VitaCraft"--which methinks is the line of aluminum pans that Monkey's 90 y.o. Mom still has she bought new in the early '40's; that would make sense. The name is written in fancy cursive script, and the bottom of the pan gets MUCH abuse, due to the exertion downward whilst you're extracting the goods from whats in it. Maybe cinnabar the alum queen knows more--perhaps her Auntie sold such items in their line of aluminum products... CHEERS! Chuckie p.s.--hey, it IS a vitacraft, and there is a NEWER model (plastic handle) for sale now on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-VITA-CRAFT-625-CANNING-FOOD-PRESS-FUNNEL-STRAINER-MASHER-SIEVE-COLANDER-/291326504864?pt=Kitchen_Tools_Gadgets&hash=item43d469afa0
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Post by chipperhiker on Dec 23, 2014 23:24:40 GMT -5
I've made apple butter a number of times, but I never use a recipe. I just cook it down until it's getting close to the texture I'm looking for, and then I sweeten to taste. Anytime I've looked at written recipes it seems like that they use a whole lot more sugar than I end up using. After I add the sugar, I keep an eye on it until it gets to the right texture - it mounds up on a spoon. My apples are TART, so I don't add vinegar or lemon juice unless the flavor needs adjusting. Sometimes I add spices, sometimes not. Sometimes the naked apple butter just hits the spot. Can as per USDA instruction.
My favorite, though, is crab apple butter. Holy cow is that good, but I make it completely differently than regular apple butter! First I use a steam juicer to extract the juice for jelly. Then I run the remaining pulp through a food mill, and at that point it's already almost the perfect texture. I add a bit of sugar, and voila! Awesomeness, and it's a pale pink color, unlike the dark brown of normal apple butter. I stumbled upon it by accident. I was making jelly and I felt sorry for the pulp that was left. It still had tons of flavor, so I went ahead and made butter. Since then I've heard of others doing the same, but at the time it was something of my own invention. Anyway, it's well worth making.
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Post by Chuckie on Dec 24, 2014 10:43:38 GMT -5
I've made apple butter a number of times, but I never use a recipe. I just cook it down until it's getting close to the texture I'm looking for, and then I sweeten to taste. Anytime I've looked at written recipes it seems like that they use a whole lot more sugar than I end up using. You are SO CORRECT on the sugar part, chipper!! The recipe I found was 1/2 sugar to the pulp--or THIRTEEN CUPS to 26 cups! I stopped @ 4 pounds of sugar--which was EIGHT cups--and it was PUH-LENTY sweet enough! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by mach12 on Dec 24, 2014 14:28:54 GMT -5
We also found that using cane sugar (vs. beet sugar) makes a BIG difference. Takes way less.
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Post by chipperhiker on Dec 25, 2014 19:59:52 GMT -5
Wow, Chuckie. That level of sugar would be sickeningly sweet, hence the reason I do my own thing!
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Post by mach12 on Dec 26, 2014 13:14:44 GMT -5
Another good one is Spiced Apple-Tomato Butter. It uses 1/2 gallon apples (peeled and diced), 1/2 gallon tomatoes (skin and seed removed), 2.5 pounds brown sugar, 1/2 pint vinegar and 1 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cloves. Just mix it together, bring to a boil, then cook down until mixture is thick. Put in sterilized jars and process.
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Post by vaporvac on Dec 26, 2014 16:02:55 GMT -5
OOh! That sounds so good, mach12. Is it sort of like a chutney? I've never canned before...I usually just freeze, but that's not the best for everything. Is it very hard, time-consuming, dangerous, messy, etc? I really like the way the jars looks all in a row and think they make lovely gifts.
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Post by mach12 on Dec 26, 2014 16:51:23 GMT -5
It really is good! One of my favorites. The recipe is from a cookbook that my mother received as a wedding gift in the late 40's. One year my Dad grew so many tomatoes that they were scrambling trying a bunch of different recipes so tried this one and I don't think there was ever a time after that where the shelves of canned food in our basement didn't have jars of it. My mother also made a salad dressing with it but we never knew exactly how she did it. She started doing a lot of stuff in the crock pot after getting one and I remember her doing this in the crock pot too, so it'd work great in the t-well I'm sure. She'd toss everything in the crock pot before bed, then get up in the morning, take the lid off and cover the top with a splatter screen, then let it thicken. Took about an hour as I remember. Canning it is really easy, too. They're processed in a water bath and, if I remember right, the small jelly jars only take about 5 minutes in the boiling water. Same procedure and time as applesauce.
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Post by cinnabar on Dec 26, 2014 21:02:04 GMT -5
In my Wear Ever book the sieve is called a Fruit and Vegetable Press in 1952 , earlier books simply call it a Food Press. Like twell pots by different makers, each one is a little different size and style.
With Wear Ever, one type is the ring with 3 detachable legs stand, that keeps it up over a bowl. Also there is a one piece stand unit , like cross between a tomato basket and a tripod, that you cannot take apart for storage.
Third type, the Adaptor is the covered piece that you set right into a bowl or pan and is super cool to use for ricing potatoes.(The dome thing in the back of Chuckie's first pic) No heat loss or juicy stuff spattering.
I have all three types and most like the one that can be disassembled for tomatoes and apples etc.
The one piece one stand is hard to store and not as sturdy.
The one with the adaptor, or "hood" as I like to call it, is great for spuds as it mashes them right back into the pot and keeps them warm. But you have to have the correct size bowl or pot for the adaptor and sieve to rest in.
All of mine(five at last count) are Wear ever, but I am sure the other utensil makers had designs much like them. Not all sieves will fit exactly in all of the stands. So some are not as easy to use because they have been mis-matched. They will work, but not as well as they should.
I also have 2 Foley food mills and don't use them anymore, pain to keep the tomato seeds out of the holes, and the old ones rust. The stainless one just doesn't do as good of a job as "mushing" and is awkward to use. The Foley's will be garage sale fodder next summer.
I may try and get some pics of this up if you would like, you can do more explaining with photos.
cinnabar
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