Jersey Black Butter

[Mr Flibble]

Not New Jersey, the proper one :p. Not butter either, it's a thick spicy black apple jam. Has anyone had or tried making it?

I acquired a pot of it via my sister who lives there, the ingrediants of the stuff i have is: Apples, Cider, Lemons, Treacle, Sugar, Licorice, Mixed Spice and Cinamon.

It smells like christmas should when you open the jar, and tastes a bit like mincemeat from the spice point of view. You can have it on bread, toast, scones, icecream or however you want. I had some this morning on some fresh homemade bread. There's info about it on the BBC Website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/about_jersey/food/recipes/black_butter.shtml), but I also found a recipe that I'm considering making here (http://www.christmasarchives.com/black_butter.html) :)

[Litsea]

Here in the States, we'd call that Apple Butter, but the licorice is not a usual ingredient here.

I have not made Apple Butter yet, but intend to make some Pumpkin Butter verrrrryyyyyy soon, as the pumpkins from my garden need some attention! ;)

Let me know how the recipe turns out, if you try it! And... what on earth is a 'salt spoon'???

[cedarblue]

Not New Jersey, the proper one :p. Not butter either, it's a thick spicy black apple jam. Has anyone had or tried making it?

I acquired a pot of it via my sister who lives there, the ingrediants of the stuff i have is: Apples, Cider, Lemons, Treacle, Sugar, Licorice, Mixed Spice and Cinamon.

It smells like christmas should when you open the jar, and tastes a bit like mincemeat from the spice point of view. You can have it on bread, toast, scones, icecream or however you want. I had some this morning on some fresh homemade bread. There's info about it on the BBC Website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/about_jersey/food/recipes/black_butter.shtml), but I also found a recipe that I'm considering making here (http://www.christmasarchives.com/black_butter.html) :)



will you also be wearing a bustle dress, jet jewellery and smoking a clay pipewhilst stirring it?? [jane austens christmas, what a great site!]

jolly marvellous recipe, may have a bash myself, leaving out the clarified butter of course! ;)

[DianeVegan]

Sounds very similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter of my youth. (And Litsea, Grandma would be very angry with you for not carrying on the tradition.)

There are different variations, some spicier than others. I personally like it with a minimum of spices so the apple taste comes through.

[Litsea]

(And Litsea, Grandma would be very angry with you for not carrying on the tradition.)

...yet. ;)

[Mr Flibble]

Well, i made it this afternoon (using this recipe (http://www.christmasarchives.com/black_butter.html)). I modified it slightly, by making half the amount, adding 1+1/2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1 tbsp of black treacle. The black treacle is kind of cheating, although the store bought stuff i have has it in it, it does turn the whole thing black where as the recipe stated it will naturally go so after a few months. At half it's still made a massive amount, but I had a big dollop on some vegan vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight and it tasted great! Very similar in taste to mincemeat, but without the mixed fruit, just apples. Mine isn't as spicey as the stuff I have in a jar, but as Diane says the apple taste comes through, which mixed with the cinamon and cloves tastes great :)

It's gonna take me a *long* time to get through this much (which cost less in raw ingrediants than my tiny jar from a shop!), i'll probably have to give some away. Does anyone have recipes for the other country's variations on it? I didn't think a small island off france could have come up with their own recipe, they probably nicked it from someone else! Would be cool to experiment. Goodness, getting excited about jam making.....i must be getting old! Actually I went round town looking for preserving jars today and found none. I'm sure i've seen them in years passed, maybe it's just not trendy anymore? ;)

I didn't wear a dress to make it i'm affraid, infact I don't actually own any (sad I know). Instead of clarified butter I planned to just top it off with a thin layer of oil to keep it airtight.

I took a salt spoon to be a quarter teaspoon, according to the only page about it i could find online. In pictures thou it looks more like a dessert spoon. Very confusing

[DianeVegan]

That recipe definitely is what we call Apple Butter here in the U.S. :) (Grandma 's parents were German, so there must have been a lot of recipe swapping around Europe).

You can refridgerate the jars for 2-3 months (depending on the sugar content) or you can preserve them in a pressure canner or a hot water bath. Canning has regained its popularity (somewhat) here in the states, so jars and supplies are easy to find. Just don't follow any old recipes for canning. There are books on it and I can give you the official instructions from one of the Department of Health organizations (I have a website somewhere). It's great fun and you don't even need to wear a dress!