Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1917 — MAKING FRUIT BUTTERS GOOD WAY TO UTILIZE SURPLUS PRODUCTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAKING FRUIT BUTTERS GOOD WAY TO UTILIZE SURPLUS PRODUCTS

There will be more or less fruit which will not be salable because of lack of a local market, lack of time to pick and pack for distant markets, or because the amount may seem too small at any one time to be worth saving. Such fruit should not be allowed to go to waste, for it may be used in making fruit butters, urge experts of the United States department of agriculture. Well-made fruit butters are very welcome and “tasty.” and go a long way to make plain cereals appetizing. Children and older people, too, like such fruit butter on bread, and it is good dietetics as well as good economy to use such highly flavored products to “carry” a relatively large amount of mllder-flavored food. It is desirable to use only good quality fruit for fruit butters, and it must be remembered that poor fruits will not make good fruit butters. However, as every housekeeper knows, part of an apple or other fruit may be sound and good while 'the remainder is not, owing to bruising or other injury, and such good portions may be used successfully for fruit butter making. Thus it is often a decided economy, since it saves what would otherwise be a total loss.

There is no better way to use good apples and the sound portions of windfall, wormy and bruised apples than to make apple butter of them. While almost all varieties of apples will make good apple butter, those with distinctive flavor and good cooking quality are most satisfactory. Such old standard varieties as Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening, Tompkins King and Smokehouse are excellent for this purpose. The summer varieties also will make good apple butter, it has been found by recent tests in the United States department of agriculture. If apples of coarse texture are used, it is desirable to cook them and put them through a colander or coarsewlre strainer before adding them to the boiled cider. Sweet apples are sometimes used with tart ones. Overripe apples are not desirable. Apple butter is made by boiling dowm fresh, sweet cider to half its original qauntity, then adding apples which have been peeled and sliced. The apples either are added directly to the boiled cider and cooked in it until the apple butter is done or are made into apple sauce, which is cooked in the boiling cider. The cooking should be continued until the cider and apple pulp do not separate; then the butter will be of the right thickness when cold.

It takes about equal amounts of sweet cider and peeled and sliced apples to make apple butter of the right consistency. In other words, if five gallons of sweet cider are used it should be boiled down to two and onehalf gallons, and five gallons of peeled and sliced apples should be added, either raw or made into apple sauce. Two things essential to making good apple butter are: Long, slow cooking (four to six hours), and constant stirring. If sugar is used, it should be added after the cooking of cider and apples is about two-thirds done. About a pound of either white or brown sugar is the usual amount per gallon of apple butter, but more or less, or not any, may be used to suit the taste. •

Apple butter is spiced according to one’s preference, about half a teaspoonful each of ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice for each gallon being a common mixture. These are stirred into it when the cooking is finisl) oil While still boiling hot, apple butter should be packed In hot, < sterilized glasses, glass jars or hermetically sealed stone Jars, or crocks with tightly fitting covers, and be sterilized in steam as follows: Set the containers, filled and with tops on, in a vessel fitted with false bottom and deep enough to hold them, pour in a little water, put on the cover to hold In the ateam, and set over the fire. Begin to count time when the steam starts to escape, and after five minutes (ten for half gallon, or 15 for larger containers), take the containers out to cool, then sot them away for future use. Do not disturb the covers until the apple Iratter Is to be used. If the covers do not fit tightly, place waxed or oiled paper in them to make a tight fit before sterilizing is done. This sterilizing Is done for the purpose of preventing any spoiling of the top layers of' apple butter, and also to take the"place of a layer of paraffin which, though a good seal, is now quite expensive. All fruit butters and similar products should be sterilized in the same way. Good apple butter is often made without the use of cider. Enough water is added to the peeled a/id sliced apples to make a thin apple sauce and this is allowed to cook very slowly, or simmer, over a low fire for three or four hours. Brown rather than white sugar is usually used, being added when the cooking is two-thirds done. The sugar which settles at the bottom of barrels of New Orleans molasses is excellent for this purpose. A pound per gallon is usually sufficient but this amount Is a matter of taste as Is also the amount of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves to be added when the cooking la done.

Saving the Surplus.