Keeping Up With the Apples

I am still working through all the apples.  To be fair, Kate and Ted are doing their fair share in terms of eating them but it's still a lot of apples.  I've made baked apples.  I'm probably going to make a pie.  Maybe a quick bread too.  Come to think of it, I can probably saute some of them up to serve in a savory way as well.  But as I said, it's a lot of apples and Ted is already talking about trying some of the other varieties available at Soergel.  I have to keep up with the apples.

A week or two ago I bought a beautiful box of Italian plums to use to make a tart.  Sadly, the tart never happened and the plums have just been sitting here waiting to star in something.  Well, if there was no tart in their future, how about some plum apple butter.  Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

I went to my favorite recipe source, the internet, to see if I could find a recipe.  I thought I was being so creative by combining apples and plums but alas, it's been done before.  About a zillion times.  I had my pick of recipes although to be fair, they were all pretty similar.

The process was easy enough.  Cut up the fruit, simmer it with a little water, puree, and then cook with sugar and spices.  The whole shebang took less than two hours and I ended up with three beautiful little jars of plum apple butter.

I am now building up quite a little stockpile of canned goods in my basement.  I have peach jam, peach raspberry jam, pickles, and now plum apple butter.  Either I'm all set for the holidays or I won't have to buy jam and pickles for at least five years.  Or both.

Recipe:  Apple Plum Butter




Plum Apple Butter

(Adapted from tasteofhome)

Ingredients:

3 medium sized plums (or 4 small), pitted and quartered
2 medium sized tart apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
dash cloves


Directions:


Place plums, apples and water in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until fruit is tender.
Remove from heat and pour into blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour back into saucepan. Add remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until thick enough that it mounds on a plate without spreading.
Cool completely before covering. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
Makes approximately: 1 1/4 cup