Thanksgiving is close enough that the good apples are still around and fresh cranberries are in the stores. If you want gift jars or a pantry that does not depend on last-minute shopping, this is the week to put up both.
I am sticking to methods published by the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia, which adapts USDA home-canning guidance. Use those directions as written. Do not invent shortcuts or swap ingredients the way you might in an ordinary saucepan. Both recipes use a boiling-water canner. Read the center’s canner guidance first if you are new to canning.
Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.
Apple butter
The center’s apple butter recipe starts with 8 pounds of tasty apples such as Jonathan, Winesap, Stayman, Golden Delicious or McIntosh. You will also need 2 cups of apple cider, 2 cups of vinegar, 2¼ cups of white sugar, 2¼ cups of packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of ground cloves. The yield is about 9 to 10 pints.
Wash the apples, remove the stems, then quarter and core them. Cook them slowly in the cider and vinegar until they are soft. Press the fruit through a colander, food mill or strainer. Cook the pulp with the sugar and spices, stirring often.
To test for doneness, take a spoonful and hold it away from the steam for 2 minutes. It is ready if the butter stays mounded on the spoon. You can also spoon a little onto a plate. When a rim of liquid does not separate around the edge, it is ready to can.
Fill the hot butter into sterile half-pint or pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Quart jars do not need to be presterilized. Process half-pints or pints in a boiling-water canner for 5 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet of elevation, 10 minutes from 1,001 to 6,000 feet, and 15 minutes above 6,000 feet. Quarts take 10, 15 and 20 minutes at those same elevations.
Cranberry sauce
For a basic batch, use 4 cups of cranberries, 1 cup of water and 2 cups of sugar. The yield is about 4 half-pint jars, and the center says the recipe may be doubled.
Wash the berries and cook them in the water until they are soft. Press them through a fine sieve, add the sugar, and boil for 3 minutes. Pour the boiling-hot sauce into hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe the rims, and put on two-piece lids.
Process half-pints or pints for 15 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet, 20 minutes from 1,001 to 6,000 feet, and 25 minutes above 6,000 feet. To cut down on foam, the center says you may add ½ teaspoon of butter after the berries are soft and before you sieve them and add the sugar.
If you prefer a rustic sauce, mash the cooked berries instead of sieving them, then add the sugar and boil 3 minutes. For whole-berry sauce, leave the softened berries intact, add the sugar, and boil 3 minutes. The filling and processing steps stay the same.
A few rules that keep the jars safe
Use tested recipes, clean jars and new lids, and match the process time to your elevation. After processing, let the jars cool undisturbed, then check the seals. Granular sucralose does not preserve food the way sugar does, and the center does not treat it as a simple stand-in in traditional canned spreads.
A Saturday spent this way pays you back in December. Apple butter belongs on toast or pork. Homemade cranberry sauce tastes like you meant to be ready.