Today we have a guest post from my friend Rachel who blogs over at Day2Day Joys. Thanks Rachel!
I am so glad to be posting here at Humorous Homemaking today! I’ll let you in on a little secret… Before Stacy and I actually “knew” each other, we went to the same college but never met one another. While in college we both fell in love and went on about our lives. We became mothers and have both made a switch to a more natural lifestyle when it comes to health and food. She has commented on my blog and I have commented on hers on numerous occasions. I was flipping through our college bi-annual magazine a few months ago and found her name in the back in the “where are they now” section. I about fell out of my chair! The same Stacy that I had been corresponding with in blog comments, was someone I who I attended college with, there’s no telling but we may have been in a class together. It’s amazing how God works things out, isn’t it?
Anyhow, today I have for you a Spiced Apple Pumpkin Butter to go along with this Christmas season. This is actually a fix it & forget it recipe that you can actually forget and stir every couple hours. I love pumpkin and pumpkin is actually a super-food so anything I can add it into makes me happy.
Spiced Apple Pumpkin Butter
- 6 medium organic apples
- 28 ounce can pumpkin puree (2 1/2 cups)
- 1/4 cup sucanat
- 4 tbs honey
- 1 tbs vanilla
- 2 tbs cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup apple cider or juice (used midway)
- Gather ingredients needed
- Peel and chop apples
- Add everything to your crock-pot, place lid on and set temperature to high
- Forget about it for 3 hours
- By this time your house with be smelling like pumpkin pie. Add in 1 cup of apple cider and stir contents. Turn heat to low.
- Wait abut 6+ more hours and it will be READY! (every 2 hours stir if you are able, if not it will be fine)
- Enjoy and/or give as a gift!
Rachel is a mother to 2 preschoolers and a wife to a chiropractor. Her passions are faith, family and health. She supports her husband in helping to change the way people look at their health and uses her blog as a tool to do that. You can find her writing about her family adventures and inspiring you to make healthier choices for your family and more at day2day joys, on Twitter, or on Facebook.
*This post is linked at Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes.
How long can it safely be stored in a refrigerator? A freezer?
Natasha, I don’t know the exact answer but for fridge I’d say as long as you would normally keep a jam, maybe a month or so?? Sorry, not an expert in this area 🙂 In freezer for months!
So is it safe to do this or not? If so, how do I need to keep it? Do we refrigerate it, can it with a hot bathe, or freeze it? I’m confused…sorry!
No, it is not safe to can because of the pumpkin. It has to be stored in the fridge or freezer. 🙂 The note is at the very bottom of the post with a link about why you can’t can pumpkin. I’ll move it up so that it’s more visible. 🙂
It’s safe to make and eat by storing in the fridge, but it’s not safe to can the pumpkin.
I’ve never tried pumpkin butter, with or without apple. I will have to try this next year! (pumpkins are all gone around here for now)
I know….I’m totally making this next year!
YUM!!!! I need to try this!
Me too!
Hope you like it!
I’m glad you like it Erin! The smell in the house is amazing too!
Oh my goodness, Rachel, this sounds sooooooo yummy!! I can almost taste it! GREAT post! (And thanks for linking to my applesauce, too!) 🙂
I know, right? It’s making me slobber all over my computer.
We eat peanut butter and fruit butter sandwiches instead of using jelly. SO yummy!
We do that too sometimes and you’re right…..yummy!
That’s a great Nicole! We often do that too!
This may be silliest question ever but…do you have to seal the lids (hot water) or it doesn’t matter for this recipe? I can screw anything up!! 🙂
Amber, if you’re going to store it in the fridge then no, you don’t have to seal the lids. 🙂 If you want to keep it a room temperature for a long time, you’ll need to process it in a hot water bath canner. Never silly questions around here! 🙂
I don’t know the answer to this, so please research it.
You can’t water bath can pumpkin butter. When cooked down, winter squash flesh is too dense, and the interior of the butter may not reach 240 degrees – the temperature needed to kill the botulism spores.
Also, winter squash is a low-acid vegetable – an incredibly friendly environment to botulism.
Whether the presence of apples changes that or not is something I don’t know. But, I would err on the side of caution and freeze instead of canning.
Hallee
Thanks for commenting Hallee. 🙂 I’ve never canned it myself – I just stick it in the refrigerator to store. But my mom has always canned apple butter in a hot water bath canner. I pulled out the Ball Blue Book of Preserving and it has two recipes for canning apple butter. It says to process pints and quarts 10 minutes in boiling-water bath at a simmering temperature (180-185).
I pulled up several websites for canning apple butter too: http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-apple-butter.html#axzz1gpXdXmN8
http://erinskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/10/cant-stop-canning-apple-butter.html
And this from the National Center for Home Food Preservation: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/apple_butter.html
I’ve never had to worry with canning it because we eat it so fast. LOL
I can apple butter as well — which is why I wonder if it will make canning this with the pumpkin okay. If it was just pumpkin, I would emphatically say you could NIT can it. But, with the apple included, I don’t know. That’s why anyone who wanted to should either research it thoroughly or just freeze it.
Well, as long as I’ve been canning with my mom, neither she OR I knew this. Thanks Hallee! Here is a great explanation: http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinprecautions.php
We’ve always frozen our pumpkin, and now I guess I know why. Ha! 🙂 I’ll reflect the recipe to note this link.
Amber, someone noted in the comments that this mixture might not be safe to can…..while you CAN can apple butter, you cannot can pumpkin. It’s unsure if canning the two together is safe. Here is a GREAT explanation of why you cannot can pumpkin: http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinprecautions.php
Thanks for clearing that up Stacy & Haylee the Homemaker! I just stored mine in the refrigerator and didn’t can them, I guess I should have mentioned that! Sorry ladies!
None of us knew! 🙂 I love adding to my store of knowledge.