Apple Butter

A skeleton recipe of the kind written for cooks who already knew what apple butter looked like in the kettle. The proportions are sound; what it leaves out is scale, stirring and storage.

• A pailfulA household pail of the period generally held somewhere around 10 to 12 quarts, which would be in the region of 13 to 18 lb of whole apples. On that reading the ratio is one quart of cider to a dozen pounds or more of fruit -- enough liquid to start the apples steaming, not to cover them.
• Cider means unfermented juiceCider -- Here this is most likely fresh sweet cider, the cloudy unpasteurised juice of the autumn press, though in nineteenth-century American usage 'cider' can also mean the fermented drink. Modern unfiltered apple cider or unsweetened apple juice stands in. Hard cider will work but pushes the flavour sharp and thin.
• Very tart applesThe instruction is not fussiness. Tart varieties -- Bramley, Granny Smith, Newtown Pippin, Winesap -- carry enough acid and pectin to hold flavour through hours of reduction, where sweet dessert apples cook down to flat sweetness. Windfalls and seconds were often the raw material.
• Whole fruit, sieved laterThe recipe mentions no preparation beyond washing, which suggests the fruit went in unpeeled and uncored, whole or roughly cut. Skins and cores supply pectin and colour. Once soft, the pulp goes through a food mill or sieve, and the reduction continues after.
• Scorching is the hingeApple butter burns the moment it thickens, and a scorched batch cannot be rescued. Stir it often over low heat, and once it starts to mound on the spoon, stir near-constantly. A heavy pot is essential. Cooking it uncovered in a 300F oven, stirred every 20 to 30 minutes, is the low-attention alternative and takes 4 to 6 hours.
• Judging "very thick, smooth"The traditional test: a spoonful on a cold plate should not weep a ring of liquid around the edge. Expect the volume to fall by roughly half to two-thirds from the sieved pulp.
• Spice, to tasteCinnamon is the commonest spice in old versions, with cloves and allspice behind it. As a starting point, about 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon each of cloves and allspice per quart of finished butter, added in the last half hour so the volatile oils survive.
• StorageThe recipe assumes crocks in a cold cellar, sometimes with a paper cover. Treat the finished butter as a refrigerator preserve, good for a few weeks, or freeze it. If you want it shelf-stable, follow a current tested water-bath canning procedure rather than the book's silence on the point.
• YieldA pailful of apples with a quart of cider gives roughly 4 to 5 pints of finished butter, depending on how far it is taken down.