Apple Butter Kicked My Ass

You might have noticed there haven't been any posts recently.  Monday I decided it was time to use some of the apples we picked and make apple butter.  I think the last time I made it was about 7 years ago, so I had had sufficient time to forget the previous trauma.

There are apple butter recipes that don't require you to core & peel the 6 pounds of apples--I know this now.  Unfortunately, I did NOT know this on Monday.  So I spent two hours standing at the sink peeling and coring apples.  I don't know if it's an age thing or the fact that I have never really used a paring knife for 2 hours nonstop, by the end of the day my hand was a claw.  I thought it would be a good idea to do some stretching, which strained my wrist.  Whether or not it was the stress of the claw, the wrist or the 6 hours of standing in the kitchen....but I then threw my back out.  Fingers aching, wrist throbbing, and now having to lay flat on my back...there has been NO sewing and very little knitting.  There ARE, however, 12 freakin' half-pint jars of #@*&^#$@ apple butter!!!!!

Comments

tinebeest said…
It'd better be tasty...

(oh, and the word verification today looks suspiciously like the Flemish dialect word for potatoes...)
September 24, 2010 at 9:07 AM
Ella said…
Oh my, so sorry to hear that. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Hugs, Ella
September 24, 2010 at 9:59 AM
RobinH said…
Oh my. Poor Toni! Hope you're feeling better soon.

I must confess that I never peel apples anymore. I dice them for pie or crisp (and leave the peels on), and for applesauce I just wash them, quarter them, boil them to pulp and then run the pulp through the food mill. I've never made apple butter though. Hmm. Applesauce freezes very well, I bet apple butter would too.
September 24, 2010 at 2:54 PM
RobinH said…
Just reread my comment and realized that it seems non-linear to anyone who can't read my mind...my problem with homemade apple butter was that when my mom made it, I was the only one who ate it. And she canned in pints, and even I couldn't eat a whole pint of apple butter fast enough to keep it from getting moldy. Commercial apple butter has preservatives, so it's not a problem. But if I froze it, say in yogurt cups, I could do small quantities without having to deal with canning (for which I don't currently have the equipment).
September 24, 2010 at 2:58 PM
Jillsknit said…
You need to do a search on "apple peeler slicer" and take a look at the little devices that I have been using since the 60s when I was a little kid and was the official peeler for the family. Makes life SO much better!
September 24, 2010 at 11:13 PM
toni in florida said…
Mmmmm, homemade apple butter....!
September 25, 2010 at 10:01 AM
Daniele said…
Oh.. the memories.....

Now I remember why I have so many empty canning jars down the basement. :D
September 28, 2010 at 6:20 AM
Janet said…
hySo sorry to hear of your injury, hope you feel better soon.
September 28, 2010 at 3:32 PM
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