Crabapple Butter

Yesterday I made a batch of crabapple butter and documented it for Shirley who asked about it, maybe you only wanted the recipe Shirley, but sorry you are getting it all ;)  To make the mash, I took my crabapples and cut them in half and remove the stems, put them in a pot and cover it with water.  I boil it until they are mushy and smell soo good.  Then I drain the juice and I froze that to make crabapple jelly better.  Then take the leftovers and put them trough a sieve and get mush.   This works well cause it is much less juicy and so not as good for applesauce but perfect for butter.

My mom had been making crabapple butter forever, but she doesn't remember where her recipe is, so a few years ago I got this book and I really like it, it has sooo many recipes I like in it and that is where I am going from.   Sometimes I adjust the ingredients, my crabapples this year are quite sweet so I added a little less sugar, but of course that makes it a bit less jelled, I like to try the first batch as is then adjust for flavor later on.  So the recipe calls for
-6 cups crabapple pulp
-juice and rind of one orange
-2 cups granulated sugar
-1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground cloves
-1/2 tsp ground ginger

1.  Pretty simple, just start up the canner, mine is large and takes about half hour to boil which is perfect for this recipe cause as is it boiling everything is getting ready to put in it.

2. Combine crabapple pulp orange rind ( I most of the time just use orange juice, just pour some in, I am not super specific on amount) in a large pot and bring to a boil.

3.  Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves and ginger together and add them to fruit.  I just put them in the pot, there is lots of stirring going on I am not worried about them getting mixed in.  Boil gently for about 10 -20 minutes until mixture thickens and is translucent (which sounds weird since its a solid but it really does look so much different).  Stir lots cause it will stick to the pot, keep turning it down a little bit at a time so it keeps boiling but not crazy.  Quite often I use an oven mitt to stir with cause it spits out of the pot and it hurts!

4.Boil snap lids and rims in a pot, I generally turn them on a bit after I add the sugar mix and as soon as they boil I shut off the burner and let them sit in the hot water till I need them then the rubbery stuff is soft.

5.  Ladle butter into hot jars.  I have my jars in a sink full of clean HOT water until this point.  Fill to about a 1/4 inch space is left.  Then wipe with a cloth around the tops of jars.  This is probly the most important step there is, the main reason jars dont seal is cause there is food between the jar and the sealing rubber.  I am usually pretty careful but still make sure I clean the jars well till there is no mark on the cloth.  Then put snap lid and rim on only fingertip tight.  I had about 1/4 cup left over which is just perfect so I can have it for lunch :)

6.  Put jars in canner on rack and lower into water and process for about 10 minutes.  Make sure water is covering jars, if you need more water, add the water from boiling lids as its already hot.  Then remove them and set them where they won't have to be moved for 24 hours.  Check all jars for sealing (no movement) and then you are ready to eat or store or give away.  I rarely have a jar that doesn't not seal anymore, and if I do, I just use it within a week or 2 just put it in the fridge.

Pretty simple really, way easier than jelly cause don't have to worry about it jelling, more like jam or applesauce.  I just like to eat it as is, but my Mom and Grandma always ate it on bread.  Also linked up for Farm Photo Friday at Farmchicks blog.

My Week

So last week I was having blogger issues.  For some reason when I went to the new post page, the title box and the writing box were greyed out.  It was frustrating, but I just kept trying and today it finally worked like it is supposed to, so I will give kinda a quick overview of last week.  First off I sewed up the fly sheet Jessie ripped a while ago.  It actually looks pretty good but since its for super sensitive girl, I put all the seams on the outside so they don't rub, it looks a little odd but should work.

And Monday afternoon we had a horrible windstorm go through here and tear down a 50 foot section of windbreak which we did not know about till the next morning when we look out the window and see horses in the yard.  They musta not seen it till after dark and the windbreak is behind a cattle shed so not visible from the house.  I am glad in this case that Bailey is a talker cause she kept them all close by, 3 were in the corrals and 3 were in the yard by their pen.  They coulda gone all over the country cause we have gates open to the creek and up north cause no cattle around.  We went out and have 2 tractors holding up the fence till Neil gets his truck back and can pick up some lumber to replace it.

But our storm was not near as bad as Hanna got it, it tore out trees by the roots and I went on Wed to the chiro and what a mess, there was still trees down on the streets and all over it is just sad.  And roofs off buildings, I heard millions of dollars damage.  But while there they had the farmers market and so I got some fruit and had to have some pies, it was almost the end of the day and still lots left so she was giving a deal on pies so I ended up with 2, when I really only wanted the raisin, but cherry is good too :)

And since there are so many crab apples on my tree I picked 2 five gallon pails full and been cooking and straining the juice for jelly and the much for butter.  10 gallons of apples is a lot, it took no time to pick and there is still lots of apples on the tree, but I think I am done with what I have got now.

And then Thurs I went down to Silver slate to watch the cutting show going on there.  I was not competing in it cause I think a 5 day show is more than I need right now, but that is where the winter series is held and I wanted to see the place and know how long it takes to get there and just scout it out some.  It is real easy to find and lots of places to park and so should be good, it is 3 hours from home, so I do hope they don't start super early.  While we were there we stopped in Claresholm so shop and I finally found the mecarte reins I have been looking for all summer, and really reasonable too.  They are a little prickly but I think they will be OK.  Now I gotta find an old rein or something to make a hanger and remember how to tie them on my bosal.

Then Sat I headed down to Maple Creek with friends to the annual horse sale down there.  Looks like prices are up a little, specially on weanlings, but also on broke horses as well.  Only one colt I liked and a 4 year old ranch gelding was not too bad, but nothing I needed to have so that was good.  They also have a cowboy poetry and trade show there so we went to the trade show and saw lots of cool stuff, Found a bit and spurs I wanted but kinda out of my price range right now.  I would put them on my Christmas list, but Im sure Neil would have a heart attack if I said I wanted a $650 bit and $450 spurs so I will just save and I don't have a horse for them right now anyways so I will just wish.  But we did see where part of a grass fire went through by Medicine Hat, looks like they got it contained before too much damage, but sure is dry and reminds me it could happen here anytime.

Hopefully now it will be working and I can continue to tell my life in little chunks and it don't sound so crazy cause it really didn't seem like I did that much last week till I put it all together.

Fruit

So this week on Monday I went and picked a bucket or so of chokecherries.  I love chokecherry syrup and so try to make some every year we have the berries.   I thought I didn't have time this week and it was too hot for the canning, so on Tuesday,  after riding with Susan and friends, I just boiled up the berries and out of 14 cups of berries (and some water so they don't burn) I got 8 cups of juice.  They were quite juicy this year you could almost eat them without choking. That will make a little more syrup than I wanted but then there is enough to give away too.

I also had a look at my crab apple tree and there is a lot of apples on it and they are almost to the point of where I have to pick them.  I want to wait a little longer if I can cause I want them as red as possible so the jelly turns out redder and prettier.   But since they cancelled my show this weekend, I may be out there picking apples instead.  Looks like there will be lots to give away of them as well.

Add that to all the saskatoons I picked and froze this year, and the apricots my Mom brought for me from BC and I will sure not have a shortage of canning to do this fall.  Which is nice cause I am missing having tomatoes to can and beets and carrots to pickle.  Oh well I guess there is always next year.  I sure do have enough zucchini from our neighbors though.  He didn't think we were home when he brought 4 in (normally gives us 1 or 2) but then was surprised to see us come around the house.  Oh well I won't complain cause we got the cucumbers and carrots as well.  We had some carrots on the BBQ the other night and boy oh boy were they ever good, might have to cook the rest that way as well.   I might end up giving a zucchini away to a friend cause I can only eat and freeze so much or all we will eat all winter is zucchini bread (which I have a few different recipes so I may have to try them all).

Garden and other stuff.

Well I went out on Saturday to pick the crabapple off the trees and maybe make some Jelly or Syrup whatever it turn out to be, well there was only a staple pail full of apples, I think all the rain this spring must have washed off all the blossoms before they had a chance to be fertilized or they froze too late, because there was a ton of flowers. Turns out I made only 4 jars of Jelly (and it is super gelled) and 7 jars of crabapple butter.

Anyway I picked all the apples then decided I needed to trim some branches, I have been doing this sporadically over the last couple years cause before that it was never trimmed so there are branches going every which way. I think its looking a little better now.

There is also this other tree in the middle that I thought was a regular apple, although it has never done anything, but this year it has tiny hard red berried on it, so now I'm really confused.


I bought this new Lily when me and my sister went to the u pick place, but now I am worried it will be trying to bloom when its frozen and I hope it doesn't die.


I was looking out the window and I saw something black moving, weird I thought till I got a better look and Fluffer is back for the winter crawling on the fence posts. He is the perfect farm cat, he never hangs around the house, eats mice and gophers all summer and we don't need to feed him, hes friendly but not in the way, and he stays away from all machinery and other animals.

I forgot to post this picture yesterday in the baby post, I went to a baby shower and her Gramma and sister made this "cake" for her. Its 200 diapers rolled up and tied together, then the lollipops are facecloths taped to spoons. What a neat idea, but a lot of work.