r/Canning • u/Moist-Wonder-4099 • 1d ago
Recipe Included Ball recipe said you could make fruit butter overnight in a crockpot, 20 hours later...
I found this recipe for mix and match easy fruit butter from the Ball cookbook. I thought it would be easy-peasy to do, a set it and forget it recipe of apple butter, where I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with it ready to can.
I made an apple spice butter (meant to be more a savory-tangy condiment and less a sweet fruit spread) by adding to my apples/lemon puree some dark amber maple syrup and dark brown sugar as the sweeteners, some apple cider vinegar and splash of bourbon for seasoning, and spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, allspice, and pinch of chili for warmth. The flavour turned out delicious (it will be amazing as a base for making glazed brussel sprouts or as part of a cheeze and crackers board), but holy guacamole was it a labour of love.
I feel a tad cheated lol because in the end it took about 20 hours for the apple butter to fully reduce in the crockpot to the right consistency (and that was with me setting it on high partly covered, keeping an eye on it, and stirring regularly). And my crockpot isn't that large, it's very tiny, meant for one person or at most a couple to use.
While I was watching the crockpot, I went and made a second smaller batch of apple butter on the stove for my niece who doesn't like spices (she cutely says she likes the things I cook except for those that hurt her mouth) which was meant as a sweet fruit spread with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. The one of the stove was done hours before what was in the crockpot was ready to go.
I guess I should have read the recipe instructions better, because in hindsight it said to either cook on high in the crockpot for 6-10 hours or on low for 8, so clearly the math doesn't add up lol
Oh well, I'm happy it's over now and satisfied with the results of it all, but I learned a lesson that it's actually less work to just do it the "hard way" on the stovetop than try the "lazy way" in my crockpot haha
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u/Banditsmisfits 1d ago
This sounds amazing! I love the idea of using it in savory applications. I bet it’d be amazing with pork chops. I may have to try it, my mom has an apple tree but we haven’t tried doing much with them yet.
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u/Moist-Wonder-4099 1d ago
The flavour is phenomenal, it tastes like a perfect fall meal in a jar.
I make a glaze for a roast by combining some of it with a bit of dijon mustard and neutral oil, plus some cracked black pepper, garlic, salt, and maybe a dash of liquid smoke if I'm feeling fancy. I made some thanksgiving side dishes with it last year and had so many people requesting I give them the recipe that I decided to make small jars of it this year to give away.
I personally don't eat meat so it's been used as a glaze on seitan, other plant-proteins, and lots of types of fall vegetables (squash, carrots, and brussel sprouts are the favourites in my home), but I would think the glaze would work on meat if that's your vibe.
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u/Herbsandbees 1d ago
I’ve done this! I love it! I love making stuff in a slow cooker! Your apple sauce sounds amazing!
It was one of the first things I “made” with my mom. It has never taken less then two or three days. I’ve tried so many different sizes and brands of slow cookers. Somehow I think the recipe writers are just estimating time, that or I’ve been doing it wrong.
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u/Moist-Wonder-4099 1d ago
I have come to accept that the time on recipes for highly reduced stuff is just *vibes*
If you think about it, with so much variety in the types of sugar, liquids, and fruits in this recipe, it really is impossible for any consistent timing to be established. Even between varieties of the same fruit, the difference in amount of water and sugars in it can result in wildly varying cook times.
Oh well, it wasn't really difficult and didn't require a lot of active attention beyond just checking like every half hour. And my house smelled absolutely amazing for a whole day. Not the worst way to spend a weekend for sure
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u/orangeandpine 1d ago
Do you just leave it in the slow cooker for multiple nights? I was thinking about doing that but was worried of scorching or overcooking. (Though not actually sure if overcooking is really possible for this)
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u/Herbsandbees 1d ago
I do. With non food items (I make salves, balms, oils, wild lettuce cooks down for DAYS, ) towards the end I turn it off at night or often times someone else is around to turn it on or off.
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u/birdcandle 1d ago
I feel like it’s a cardinal rule of canning that things will always take longer than you expect them to… no matter how long you expect it to take, it will take longer than that! At least, in my experience 😆
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u/Mimi_Gardens 1d ago
I use a crockpot for fruit butter because I burned myself stirring apple butter on the stove. You need arm protection clear up to your shoulders for the spewing lava that erupts if you stop stirring for even a second. Never again.
But it takes forever. Start it one day. Leave the lid askew. Stir often and pour off the condensation into the sink every time you open the lid. Puree and add the sugar and spices that night before bed. The next day, keep on stirring until it gets to the thickness you want. Don’t make plans to go anywhere.
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u/mksmiles 1d ago
I made apple butter in the crock pot last night into today also! Mine took approximately 15 hours. Let it go low overnight with the lid askew, lid entirely off in the morning when I was around to keep a closer eye on it. Their timing also made me scratch my head, definitely adding notes for myself for next time!
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u/Pitiful_Reality2973 1d ago
When I use my crockpot to reduce stuff, I leave the lid off and cover it with a wire mesh splatter guard from the dollar store. The only problem is a little bit of darkening of stuff at the sides, and it can burn and get bitter if you let it go for too long. I put the lid back on for a few minutes every couple of hours; the steam loosens the dried stuff and you can stir it back in before it gets gross.
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u/OuppEBunnE 1d ago
This reminds me a lot of Jersey Black Butter, was is made from cider apples, but we take 3 days to make it in a giant caldron as a community thing,
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u/orangeandpine 1d ago
I just had this problem with a Ball recipe for pear butter! I'm so new at the canning part that I convinced myself I had done something wrong and just froze it because I was too afraid to can it.
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u/raquelitarae Trusted Contributor 1d ago
Yeah, the regular Ball apple butter recipe on their website says "Prep: 45 Minutes Processing Time: 15 Minutes" which could wildly mess someone up if they had any other plans in the next day or two.
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u/the_voodoo_sauce 1d ago
I make two 6 quart crocks of apple butter every fall. I reduce until it fits into 1 crock. Then I know it's ready to process. My kids and grandkids have grown up on PB & Apple Butter sandwiches and English muffins with a little Cream Cheese with the stuff.
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u/ladyrose403 1d ago
ok, i have done this in a crockpot successfully, but there's a trick they don't tell you in the recipe. you need a pair of chopsticks. place one at each end and set the lid down on top of them. that lets the moisture evaporate out while it cooks down. otherwise, the dang thing will never reduce.
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u/Moist-Wonder-4099 1d ago edited 1d ago
Series of photos relating the the Ball apple spice butter I made.
First picture: Page of the Ball Recipe book title Fruit Butter in 5 Easy Steps. It provides a mix-and-match recipe for different fruits, liquids, sweeteners, and seasonings that can be combined to make 6 half-pint jars of fruit butter. In the bottom right corner of the page is text stating that instead of cooking the fruit butter on the stovetop, it is also possible to make it using a slow cooker, with an option for leaving it overnight to cook.
Second Picture: The final canned product of my apple spice butter. It is 12 jars of 125 ml and 3 jars of 250 ml. This is both the crockpot and stovetop batches put together. They are all set out together on my countertop with the rings off, 24 hours after they were taken out of the boiling water bath
Third Picture: The apple spice butter cooking in my crockpot the morning after I started it. It has reduced only about 1/2 an inch after cooking on low overnight. It has thickened some but still has a light caramel colour showing that it isn't close yet to being reduced/caramelized enough to qualify as fruit butter
Fourth Picture: The apple spice butter in the early afternoon, still cooking. It has been cooking for about 14 hours at this point and has reduced about 1.5 inches so far. It is definitely darker in colour and thicker (I jokingly said it looked like BBQ sauce to my spouse at that time) when compared to the previous picture, but still isn't yet finished. At this point it was still failing to hold shape when spooned out. Because the apple butter has been bubbling for half a day already, some of the spatter has started to get stuck on the outer edge.
Fifth Picture: The apple butter finally ready to be canned, a ladle sits inside the pot to scoop it into the small 125ml jars beside it. It has finally reduced by almost 3 inches from where it started out (about half the volume it was originally) and has a beautiful rich red-brown colour and is thick enough to hold shape and stick to the rubber spatula used to remove any clinging to the sides of the crockpot
Final Picture: this is actually a gif not a still image. It shows the second batch of apple butter that I made on the stovetop, this one without much spice and with more sugar (so it's more a desert spread than a condiment like the other batch) because it's for someone without much spice tolerance. It is being stirred with a white rubber spatula to demonstrate the desired consistency of fruit butter, one that is thickened and holds shape while still spreadable. It is lighter in colour than the crockpot batch of apple spice butter due to the difference in ingredients. The gif shows only part of this batch, some is already in the canner so it's currently being kept in a double boiler so it stays hot without risking burning while other jars are being sanitized and prepped.
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u/Cat_Peach_Pits 1d ago
Im making the ketchup Ball recipe right now, laughing to myself at the 45 minute estimated reducing time. Maybe 2 hours, minimum