Fruit Butters 101: How To Make Them And 4 Varieties To Try
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Many of you might think that fruit butter is very similar to fruit jam or jelly. But this is not true. Fruit butter is called by its name because of its buttery and smooth texture. It is concentrated and rich, which is why it truly deserves a place in your kitchen. The concept of fruit butter is not at all a new thing. Fruit butter has been made by people for hundreds of years and fruits were slow-cooked to get a dense concentration and flavour. The prepared butter has a long shelf life if one stores it carefully. The preparation of a fruit butter requires one to be extremely patient and careful. Let's take you through the process of making fruit butter with some of the most famous and preferred fruits.

* Apple Butter

Apple butter is a very simple recipe to make and will be loved by everyone. The best part about preparing this is you do not even have to peel the apples as you can very well make this butter with unpeeled apples. To make apple butter at home, you will need some juicy apples, sugar, spices, like cinnamon and a pinch of cloves along with a subtle hint of vanilla essence. Simply chop your apples into small pieces. Place this in a cooker on medium heat and slowly mix your spices and sugar. Toss everything carefully and cook this mixture on low heat for 10 hours. You can keep checking the consistency of the apples after every two hours. If cooking continuously for 10 hours is not possible for you then you can complete the whole process in 2 to 3 days by storing your good apples in the refrigerator after cooking them. After your apples have been managed properly, use a blender to give them a uniform consistency.

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* Pear Butter

Pear butter has a thick consistency and can be easily used as a spread on your breads or desserts. This is a rich and dense butter that everyone is going to love. To make this, you have to take some ripe pears diced into small pieces. Take some honey, as per your taste, half lime, some ground, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and some ground nutmeg. Now combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook them on medium heat. Do this process for about 50 minutes and leave the lid slightly open so that you can keep an eye on the density of the butter. Once you see it being reduced to thickened puree, remove it from the heat and transfer it to your food processor. Blend everything until it becomes smooth. You can also skip this part if you want to enjoy chunky pear butter.

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* Plum Butter

Plum butter is also one of the most famous and preferred varieties of fruit butter. It has a very rich and caramelised flavour and can be stored for a year if it is canned properly. To make plum butter at home you will need some fresh plants that are diced into small pieces. Along with that, you will need some water and sugar as per your taste. Now place your diced plums into a large pot and add water that can cover the whole bottom of the pot. Add your sugar and state everything. Now heat the mixture on a very low heat for about two hours. After two hours remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool down for some time. This is a delicious variety of fruit butter that you can make at home by using some simple ingredients. Like other fruit butters, you can choose to either blend this to have a better consistency or you can simply eat it as it is.

Image Credits: Pexel

* Strawberry Butter

Strawberry butter is the perfect condiment for your delicious desserts or you can simply spread it over a bread toast. To make this butter recipe at home, you only need some simple ingredients. This includes your regular butter, strawberries, honey and some salt. Avoid using sugar for making this fruit butter as honey tastes better. Mix all these ingredients in a pan and add only a little water. Cook this for one hour and keep checking the consistency of this butter in between. Make sure that the heat is very low and put it off the heat after one hour. This can be used as a spread over your muffins, waffles, and pancakes.

All of these fruit butter recipes are very easy to make.  Ensure that you store these butter in an airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator to improve the shelf life.