Can I rescue apple butter from ketchup taste?

[jedovaty]

Hi:

Long story short, adding any amount of apple cider vinegar to apple butter recipe is a bad idea.  I now have something that smells and tastes like apple ketchup.  Is it possible to save somehow?

Everything tasted fantastic until the last ~30 minutes of the reduction, pretty much at the moment the apples went from sauce to the thick caramel butter consistency it became ketchup.  UGH.  Such a waste of delicious apples

Thank you for any help.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[heidih]

Not sure of your quantity and unclear what recipe would add vinegar (as opposed to apple cider)....but at this point you could add an interesting sweetener (a dark honey, sorghum - like that) OR just use it in savory applications. Not the answer you want I'm sure ! Other ideas from members will materialize.  Here is a prior interesting topic  https://forums.egullet.org/topic/120083-killer-apple-butter-recipes/

 

[Tri2Cook]

I don't have any ideas for saving your apple butter but from the category of looking at things on the bright side, apple ketchup sounds pretty amazing to me. I'm thinking a burger with the patty made from pork instead of beef with a good cheddar and some maple bacon... dammit, I really don't need to be making apple ketchup right now. 

[teonzo]

Try adding a pinch of baking soda to a small amount (couple spoons) of hot apple butter, mix, wait a bit, then taste what happens.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[jedovaty]

Nearly 5lbs of apples cooked down to just under 2 pints (I think pints.. the second-to-smallest ball jars, filled up 3.5 of them).  It's not much at all.. except... 5lbs of farmer's market apples.  @heidih, I'll try a little bit with more sweetener, @teonzo I'll try with baking soda, and in both cases we'll see what happens.  @Tri2Cook, good idea, thank you!  I'll give it a go - maybe combine the sweet and pork ideas, I enjoy a little honey on pork, so perhaps some honey and this ketchapple/apptchup/kepple/appupp butter. 

 

Looking up uses for apple butter, I see some people turn it into a bbq sauce. This might work, too.  Apple ketchup is not my thing, kind of like raisins in chocolate chip cookies.  Dip apples into ketchup and that's almost what this tastes like 🤢

Thanks for the ideas and help!

Edited November 6, 2019 by jedovaty (log)

[kayb]

I'm intrigued by this. I always, always use apple cider in the first step of cooking apples for my apple butter, and have never noticed a ketchupy taste to the finished product.

 

To the best of my recollection, it's 5 pounds of apples, quartered (unpeeled, uncored), 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 3 cups sugar. Cook until apples are falling apart. Run through food mill to remove skins, seeds. Cook resultant puree with more sugar, and spices. The vinegar seems to give it a depth of flavor I've not achieved any other way.

 

[jedovaty]

2 hours ago, kayb said:

I'm intrigued by this. I always, always use apple cider in the first step of cooking apples for my apple butter, and have never noticed a ketchupy taste to the finished product.

 

To the best of my recollection, it's 5 pounds of apples, quartered (unpeeled, uncored), 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 3 cups sugar. Cook until apples are falling apart. Run through food mill to remove skins, seeds. Cook resultant puree with more sugar, and spices. The vinegar seems to give it a depth of flavor I've not achieved any other way.

 

That's generally what I did, just lower quantity of vinegar and sugar - my apples were on the sweet side.  I did add a few cups of water instead of cider in the first boil, and the slow-cooker part took about 24 hours to reduce because of that.

I got another idea what to do - I'll mix with a bit of horseradish and try with some turkey.  Growing up, we would eat turkey meat from soup that was accompanied by an apple/horseradish mix - and, we'd sneak some ketchup, too, as dad did NOT approve of ketchup in the household..!

[TdeV]

I'm interested to hear the results of your tests, @jedovaty.

[lemniscate]

I wonder if adding a sweeter acid, like lemon juice might tame that taste.  Maybe the apples were too sweet and the sugars caramelized more during cooking.

[jedovaty]

Two year follow up.  I forgot about these in my fridge, and needed the jars earlier this year.  Opened them up, greeted by the aroma of apple ketchup.  Mixed some with ketchup and mustard, made for an interesting spread atop a chicken sausage from costco.  Rest transferred into container which I promptly forgot about and the contents spoiled, and as I was cleaning them out yesterday, I remembered this thread. 

 

I think with horseradish it would've been good pairing for turkey, however, I had neither turkey nor horseradish on hand at the time.  Adding lemon or lime would have made an interesting flavor combination as well.  Conclusion: I will omit apple cider next time, I think this causes the ketchup association with my senses.

[blue_dolphin]

I think I would like your apple stuff mixed with a sharp, grainy mustard on sausages with sauerkraut.  

In Deep Run Roots, Vivian Howard has a recipe for something she calls apple mustard which is kind of a kicked-up apple butter.  She serves it with a charred cabbage & apple slaw and as a dip for sausage balls.  I liked it a lot. The recipe is available online at this link in case you ever want to take it in that direction.