Apple butter is syrup made from boiled down apple juice. Variations have been made in all apple growing regions of Europe since Medieval times, and it remains popular  in the Netherlands (appelstroop), Belgium (sirop de Liège) and parts of Germany (apfelkraut). It was also a popular preserve in colonial America. It is called butter because of its readily spreadable consistency.
In the Netherlands appelstroop is a traditional spread on bread, sometimes in combination with Dutch cheese. It’s always been popular with our girls, and we also like it as a condiment with pork, or in as the basis for a sweet sauce with fried foie gras. You can sometimes buy it from wholefoods shops, but I recently tried making my own.
The process is not particularly difficult, and the result better than any I ever bought in a shop. You basically boil down apple juice and just need to make sure you take the pan off the fire before your apple caramel burns. To enhance the flavour you can infuse the juice with spices such a cinnamon, star anise and perhaps a dried pepper. You could do this with a carton of shop bought apple juice. Or alternatively, if you have a glut of apples from your own tree, you can pulp or juice these.
Recipe for apple butter
Ingredients
a mixture of fresh apples (wind falls or bruised apples are fine)
OR just use apple juice from a carton
sugar (I use about 250g per litre, but it will depend on the sweetness your juice)
a cinnamon stick
star anise, dried pepper, lemon peel, allspice etc. as you wish
juice your apples OR cut them in quarters and boil to pulp with a bit of water and drain overnight in muslin to drain juice. You can keep the pulp to make apple stock.
boil the juice down with sugar and spices until it becomes a thick dark brown syrup (104°C)
Poor the hot mixture into sterilised pots and let them cool upside down to ensure the pots are vacuumed.
