I think my request got lost in one of my other posts. What is the difference (in preparation)

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dawnnys

Well-known member
between applesauce, apple butter, and apple preserves *(which I was trying to make). I didn't have a recipe, but I added sugar, but no pectin as I thought the pectin in the apples would suffice to make an apple jam type of thing.

'Turned out like REALLY sweet applesauce after 15 minutes of cooking, uncovered, over low heat; not bad, just not what I was looking for. I combined it with roasted sweet potato and some cranberries and made a pie.

Thanks!

 
Let me see if I can answer. I've made applesauce, apple butter, spiced crabapples and apple jelly

First, you asterisked apple preserves but didn't finish so I'm not sure what you consider apple preserves. Candied? Apple jam?

Anyway, applesauce is the easiest. You chop up a bunch of apples, add some sugar and/or spices, cook until the apples are soft. Smash a little or a lot . . . Boom! Applesauce.

Apple butter is similar to apple sauce except you tend to cook it longer to get more of the liquid out so you have a denser, more intensely flavored spread and you'll probably want to puree or smash it so that the texture is smoother.

Spiced crabapples are cooked whole, in their skins with the stem attached. You cook them in a sweet/sour syrup and pack them into a jar much the way you would make pickles and that syrup becomes the preservative.

Apple jelly is a completely different beast. You cook your skin-on apples (skins are where the pectin comes from) until soft then, WITHOUT PRESSING OR SQUEEZING, allow the juice to drip through cheese cloth for several hours. This is all about achieving maximum jelly clarity. Once all the juice that's gonna drip through has done so, you begin a gentle reduction until it becomes golden. This is remarkably labor-intensive although the jelly can be used on its own or as a pectin substitute.

Synchronistically, a by-product of making apple jelly can be apple sauce or apple butter. You put the leavings through a food mill and proceed from there to make sauce or butter.

Hope this helps.

 
Yes, Steve, a very thorough description. I didn't realize that I put a star next to

preserves - 'didn't mean to - but I guess I was wondering why it didn't gel... you answered it when you said that skins are where the pectin comes from. I never knew that! Thanks. I peeled mine before cooking.

I bought Dutch apple jam in the summer and was trying to duplicate it without instructions. Next time I won't peel them, and after they are cooked, will put them through my food mill. That oughta leave some texture in there. If not, I'll add some more cooked, peeled apples. Or I could follow a recipe for it... nah, that wouldn't be as much fun ;o)

 
I just took a look at a couple recipes for Dutch Apple Jam and they are different beasts entirely.

Both recipes I looked at call for a GINORMOUS amount of sugar so, in effect, you're not making a jam so much as suspending fruit and flavorings in a syrup.

The FDA requirement for a product to be labeled "jam", is a minimum of 50% sugar. These recipes call for nearly 5-1/2 cups of sugar for 2-1/2 cups of apple, raisins and spice. Yikes, my achin' teeth! With the addition of pectin this will most definitely set and the fruit will be an accompaniment . . . sort of like a fly stuck in amber.

 
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