I ran out of jars...

I decided to take a couple of days off this week. I didn't have any grand plans for a trip, I just wanted to take a few days off when I could given that we're quickly heading into our busy time of year. Once we hit Thanksgiving, it's pretty much a vacation blackout until well after Valentine's Day. So, what did I do for the last four days? I cooked and canned apples.

If you remember from my last post, one of my favorite things to do in the fall is to go apple picking. The apples then become a big part of my holiday gift-giving as I transform them into apple butters, chutneys, you name it. My eyes were bigger than my canning kettle this time around, I estimate I ended up with at least 75 to 80 pounds of apples this year.

In the last four days, I figure I cooked off about 50 pounds of apples. One box is completely emptied, and the two remaining boxes are about half to two-thirds full. I still have more cooking and canning to do, but I ran out of jars.Guess what I'm doing on my day off next week...

I hope you enjoy this week's recipes. When making these for the purposes of my holiday canning project, I scaled the recipes up to 12 pounds of apples, so if you decide to make a batch yourself, you'll be able to use a standard sauce pan and not have to rely on a turkey roasting pan set over two burners as you'll see in the following photos. The chutney is a standard, I make this recipe almost every year, but the apple butter is a new creation. I'm pretty pleased with it!

Chardonnay Vanilla Bean Apple Butter
Makes 3 to 4 cups, or 3 to 4 half pint jars

After making two large batches of my regular spiced apple butter, I quickly realized that I needed to come up with another recipe to make use of all of the apples I had picked. (24 pounds of apples cooked, and I had barely made a dent in my boxes.) When I was digging through my spice cabinet, I found a packet of vanilla bean pods that I probably bought over 5 years ago. They were pretty dry, and as a result I knew they would be hard to split open and cook with, but they stuck in my mind.... Suddenly, I had it--play off the vanilla and apple notes found in chardonnay wine and turn it into apple butter. The dried out vanilla bean pods would work great as the apple butter needs to cook down for a fairly long time, giving the beans ample opportunity to soften and release their flavor. 

2 pounds apples, peeled and cored and chopped

½ cup chardonnay wine

1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean pod, split lengthwise and scraped with the back of a knife

juice of half a lemon

Combine all of the ingredients in a very large stainless steel saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently for 30 to 40 minutes or until mixture is reduced and thickened. There should still be some tender apple chunks in the mixture. 

Remove the vanilla bean pods and discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the apple butter until it is smooth. 

At this point the apple butter can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated where it will keep for about 2 weeks. Or you can place the apple butter into canning jars and process in a hot water canner. 

While the apples are cooking, prepare your jars for canning. Remove the lids and rings from the jars. Bring a large stock pot of water to a rapid boil. Sterilize the lids and rings by lowering them into the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a clean towel. Repeat with the jars.

Carefully ladle the hot apple butter into the hot jars, leaving about ½ inch of headspace. Cover the jar with a lid and a screw top ring. Tighten the ring to just finger tight.

When the stock pot of water has returned to a boil, lower the jars into the pot, standing them upright and in a single layer across the bottom of the pot. Make sure the jars are completely submerged under the water. Cover the pot and when the water in the pot returns to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot and set on a clean towel. Repeat the process with the remaining jars, being sure to let the water come back to the boil each time.

Let the jars sit undisturbed until they are room temperature. You should hear a noticeable "plinking" sound as the jars cool and pull the center of the lids down. After they have cooled, gently press on the center of each of the lids to be sure they have fully depressed. Any jars with lids that have not pulled down tight have not properly sealed. Place those jars in the refrigerator and enjoy them first. 

Apple and Ginger Chutney
Makes about 6 cups, or 6 half pint jars

Part of setting up for a class is putting out a snack for the students. Yes they get to eat the food they make as part of the class, but eating the food usually comes at the end of the class, so we like to put out a little something at the beginning for them to nosh on. Our "throw down" snack, as I like to call it, is cream cheese and chutney--take a brick of cream cheese, put it on a plate, top it with chutney or some other savory jam, and serve it with crackers. Our students are amazed at how tasty it is, they don't believe us at first when we tell them it's just cream cheese. This chutney is also a tasty alternative to cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, and it's really great with roasted pork.

4 large tart apples, such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Fuji, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

1 ½ cups cider vinegar

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

1 cinnamon stick

4 teaspoons mustard seed

4 teaspoons coriander seed

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

In a large saucepan combine all of the ingredients.  

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, and cook it over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or until it is reduced and thickened. 

At this point the chutney can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated where it will keep for about 2 weeks. Or you can place the chutney into canning jars and process in a hot water canner. 

While the chutney is cooking, prepare your jars for canning. Remove the lids and rings from the jars. Bring a large stock pot of water to a rapid boil. Sterilize the lids and rings by lowering them into the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a clean towel. Repeat with the jars.

Carefully ladle the hot chutney into the hot jars, leaving about ½ inch of headspace. Cover the jar with a lid and a screw top ring. Tighten the ring to just finger tight.

When the stock pot of water has returned to a boil, lower the jars into the pot, standing them upright and in a single layer across the bottom of the pot. Make sure the jars are completely submerged under the water. Cover the pot and when the water in the pot returns to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot and set on a clean towel. Repeat the process with the remaining jars, being sure to let the water come back to the boil each time.

Let the jars sit undisturbed until they are room temperature. You should hear a noticeable "plinking" sound as the jars cool and pull the center of the lids down. After they have cooled, gently press on the center of each of the lids to be sure they have fully depressed. Any jars with lids that have not pulled down tight have not properly sealed. Place those jars in the refrigerator and enjoy them first.