Hibiscus Lavender Honey Apple Butter

This apple butter is intensely apple-y with notes of caramelized honey, floral hibiscus and just the merest hint of lavender. After passing mine through a food mill with a medium die, I also ran mine through the blender to give it a completely silky texture. Feel free to scale this recipe to the amount of apples you have on hand. Also feel free to use any honey you like. You can also leave out the hibiscus if you prfer.

Course Condiments and Jams

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5 30

Total Time 5 35

Servings quart

Calories 106kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

3 pounds 12 oz mixed apples both sweet and tart
8 oz 1 cup apple cider vinegar
16 oz 2 cups unfiltered apple cider (you can also use apple juice)
6 hibiscus flowers in syrup (I used Wild Hibiscus Flower Company brand)
2 Tablespoons syrup from the hibiscus flower jar
9 oz 3/4 cup lavender Honey Creme Lavender (I used Honey Ridge Farm. You can also just use a mild honey if you don't have access to flavored honey)
1 whole lemon , with all the peel and pith cut away
2 teaspoons kosher salt (yes, 2 teaspoons. Trust me)
2 Tablespoons hibiscus syrup from the jar of hibiscus flowers

Instructions

Scrub your apples well. Quarter them and put them in a large, heavy pot. No need to peel or core.
Add the cider vinegar, apple cider, hibiscus flowers and first amount of syrup (2 Tablespoons), honey, lemon (just plop that whole guy in, seeds and all) and salt.
Cover the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook the apples until completely soft, about 30 minutes. You may have to stir the pot a few times to make sure all the apples get some "bath time" in the vinegar/cider mixture so they soften up.
Once all the fruit is nice and soft and falling apart, run everything (including all the liquid) through a food mill using the medium die. Put this puree in a heavy bottomed pot that is wider than it is tall. You want a large surface area to encourage evaporation.
Bring the puree to a slow boil and then reduce the heat to low or medium low. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and scorching (this becomes more likely the more concentrated the mixture becomes, so keep an eye on it, especially during the last couple of hours)
Keep the mixture at a very slow "burble," for 5 hours. The mixture will reduce by quite a lot and become a gorgeous dark reddish mahogany color.
Stir in the last 2 Tablespoons of hibiscus syrup.

Optional Step

Blend the apple butter in the blender for an extremely smooth texture. You certainly don't have to, but I went ahead and went for it. The texture is silky smooth and lovely. Since the blending will blend a bit of air in and make your butter look cloudy. Cook it over low heat for another couple of minutes until it clears up. Then cool and chill.
Enjoy over the next two or three weeks.

Notes

This recipe yields one slightly generous quart of apple butter. If you don't reduce yours as much as I reduced mine, you'll end up with maybe as much as 2 quarts.

Nutrition