Newbie canner here, sorry if this is a simple question. I’m looking to make apple butter and was planning to wash, core (but not peel), and roughly chop apples, then cook them down until soft and run them through the food mill to puree and remove peels. But the recipe I’m using (fruit butter in 5 easy steps from the All New Ball Book of Canning & Preserving) says to wash, peel, core, and chop, then cook down.
Is it ok to do it my way or does it affect the safety? After the first cooking step the recipe says to bring the puree to a boil, then reduce it down either at a simmer or in the slow cooker (I’ll do the slow cooker method), then jar and process in a water bath.
I’ve searched this subreddit and some people have said removing the peels impacts bacterial load, but others refer to using a food mill to remove the peels from apples for applesauce/etc. I’ve previously used the NCHFP apple butter recipe, which does not call to pre-peel and uses a food mill, but I don’t know if there are differences in the recipes that make it acceptable for one but not the other. TIA!
by MisterFigg
4 Comments
Honestly, you don’t need to core them. Just cut them into pieces and cook down. Then run through the food mill. It’s the best part of four mills. Apples, tomatoes, they pull skins and seeds perfectly.
I don’t have the canning knowledge to answer your specific question, but if you happen to have a KitchenAid mixer and make a lot of apple-based food, there is a spiralizer attachment that works great. It cores and cuts and has a peeler blade. That blade can be used during coring and cutting, saving time. I make applesauce and it saves me so much time! I also use it with potatoes and sweet potatoes. The cost of new has jumped high with all the tariffs, but there are good secondhand deals from goodwill online.
I have tested all manners of making applesauce (the first step really to making apple butter) and I have determined that washing, chopping, cooking, then food milling is the superior method. It’s faster, easier, you lose less product, and I think extracting the pectin from the peels during the first cook lends itself to a better texture!
The most recent research I know of found that dilute vinegar removes just as much debris from fruits and vegetables as so called “vegetable soaps”, and more critically, removes more heavy metals from dust on the surface of the food. The acid chelates some of the metals.
I don’t recall if it was that one or another that called into question whether bioaccumulation of heavy metals in cruciferous vegetables was mistaking surface contamination for internal contamination. I expect we’ll go a few more rounds before that debate gets settled. But in the meantime, I keep a gallon bottle of white vinegar for garden harvesting and laundry.