Slow Cooker apple butter

5 1/2 pounds apples,such as a mixtureof rome, Granny
Smith, Cortland,
and Mcintosh
3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon
ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon
ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon
ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons balsamic
vinegar or unfltered
organic cider vinegar 

              Apple butter used to be an all-day affair, simmering apples and seasonings until they collapsed into sweet, spicy preserves. Old-timers cooked gallons of the stuff in copper cauldrons or black wash pots over the coals, stirring for hours with long wooden paddles known as horse heads. Whole communities would gather for “the make.” My grandmother and her friends made gallons of apple butter in the huge pots they used to seal canning jars, adding dishpan after dishpan of
pared apples to the bubbling stew. Whether made by the gallon or by the quart, the key to good apple butter is low, even heat—just what you’ll get from an electric slow cooker. This method is very easy and requires no stirring. Your house will smell divine, as though serious cooking has been deftly done. Be sure to use apples that fall apart into thick sauce when cooked. A mixture
of apples is almost always preferable to any one variety, because each brings its own flavor and characteristics to the pot. I’ve sugested apples that are available almost anywhere, but do take advantage of any heirloom apples that grow where you live. Anyone who grows heirloom apples can describe their taste and use. When I was a little girl, I was taught this old wives’ tale about apple peels. If you manage to peel an apple while keeping the peeling in one long, continuous spiral, you should drop it over your left shoulder and let it fall to the ground. The twisting, looping peel will form the frst letter of the name of your true love. I can assure you, if you are a moony-eyed romantic who wants to see a particular letter, you’ll see it.

 
Makes about 8 Cups 

1 Have ready two 1-quart jars, four 1-pint jars, or eight half-pint jars that have been sterilized in boiling water or run through the dishwasher on the hottest cycle. The jars should have sterilized tight-ftting lids. The jars and lids do not have to stay hot, but they must stay sterile.

2 Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Toss them with the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, and salt.

3 Pack the mixture into a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Be sure that your cooker is at least two-thirds full of raw apples to ensure that they will cook properly. Likewise, don’t fll the cooker so full that the lid does not sit flat on the rim.

4 Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the apples are completely soft and broken down, 8 to 12 hours. Remove the lid, increase the heat to high, and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 hour. Stir in the vinegar.

5 Purée in a blender (working in batches to not fll the blender more than half full) or purée directly in the cooker with an immersion blender.

6 Ladle the hot apple butter into the prepared jars and cover tightly. Set aside to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for up to 6 weeks. Variation: To make apple and sweet potato butter, replace 2 pounds of the apples with peeled and sliced sweet potatoes. To make pear butter, substitute
Kieffer pears.