How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (2024)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (1)

Take advantage of the season’s best fruit with this super-simple preserving technique.

The bees have been busy in Western Maine this year. Proof can be found weighing down the fruit trees that dot my mother’s property like jewels. Sour cherries earlier in the summer, and now as fall looms large, plums and crabapples fall to the ground faster than we can pick them. Staring up into the full branches, the fruit is nearly as plentiful as the leaves that intersperse it. We picked buckets full, most destined to be canned and preserved at the hands of my mother – an expert in the art…one peek at the shelves of salsas, jams, jellies, butters, and pickles that line her cellar walls is proof enough of that – but after spending a week in this gorgeous place, I found myself arriving back in Philadelphia with a windfall of deep purple plums and no idea of what to do with them.

A traditional German cake, or “kuchen,” is what normally comes to mind but, feeling inspired by the art of preservation — an art I myself have yet to master — I decided to try my hand at creating a fruit butter using an admittedly neglected appliance in my kitchen, the slow cooker. It also saves you the trouble of having to stand at a hot stove for half a day which, if you’re experiencing the kind of late-summer weather we are on the East Coast, is a time-saver you’ll be thankful for. This technique is incredibly easy and can be used to make fruit butters of all varieties, so whether you’re in plum season, or bookmarking this for next year’s strawberry crop, it’s one you’ll want to keep handy year-round. The end product can be kept refrigerated for up to two weeks or preserved, and makes a fantastic homemade gift. Scroll on for the steps and for a bonus recipe for how to use the sweet result of your efforts!

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (2)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (3)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (4)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (5)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (6)

Slow Cooker Fruit Butter

Makes about 1 small Mason jar

Note: This recipe is best planned for a weekend morning or for a day when you’ll have a couple of hours to spare.

Ingredients:

Approx. 4 lbs. fresh fruit (I used fresh plums, but you could also use apples, cherries, peaches, pears etc.)

1/4 – 1/2 cup water

Optional:

1/2 – 1 cup sweetener (sugar, honey)

1 tbsp vanilla

Pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom

Tools:

Sharp knife

Slow cooker

Food processor, immersion blender or blender

Canning jars

1. Wash and dry plums. Use a sharp knife to carefully slice along their seam and twist (as you would an avocado) to break into two pieces. Flick out the pit with the knife and chop each plum into quarters, tossing pieces into the slow cooker as you go.

2. Once all the plums are pitted, chopped and added to your slow cooker, set heat to low for two hours, stirring every 10-20 minutes or so.

3.Once the two hours are up, add the water to the slow cooker and reset the timer for 16 hours. It may sound like a long time, but that’s the beauty of the slow cooker – you can just leave it to do its thing and, if the 16 hours are up while you’re sleeping, it will set itself to warm until youwake. Towards the end of the cooking cycle, open the lid and check the consistency. If it seems too watery, offset the lid by a couple of inches to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.

4. Once the cooking time is up, transfer the fruit mixture to your food processor or blender and process until smooth.

5. Place the blended fruit back into the slow cooker and add the vanilla and spices you plan to use, and any desired sweetener, mixing to combine. Allow to cook on low for another couple of hours with the lid offset until the butter reaches the desired consistency.

6. Transfer to canning jar and allow to cool completely before storing in the fridge. This will keep unpreserved for about two weeks. However, if you’ve got canning skills, put ’em to work and seal up a few jars of fruit butter to enjoy throughout the season.

To Serve: Try on toasted bread, muffins, as a glaze, or use it to top yogurt. Or, make the recipe below!

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (7)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (8)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (9)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (10)

Seasonal Chia Parfait

Makes one serving

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp water

3 tbsp chia seeds

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch ground ginger

Plum butter, to taste

Slivered toasted almonds

1/4 fresh pear, sliced

Sprinkle nutmeg

1. Combine the coconut milk, water, chia seeds, vanilla, and ground ginger in a jar. Cover and shake to combine. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours.

2. To make the parfait, transfer the chia pudding to a bowl and top with plum butter, almonds, pear and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Enjoy!

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (11)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (12)

How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (13)

+ Do you have a favorite way of using seasonal fruit or produce? Please share in the comments!

More healthy recipe ideas from BLDG 25

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How to Make Seasonal Fruit Butter in Your Slow Cooker + A Bonus Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you know when fruit butter is done? ›

To test doneness, put a spoonful of fruit butter on a plate. If no liquid seeps from the edges, it's done. Return to a simmer to thicken more if necessary. For very smooth fruit butter, puree in a food processor or blender, then strain and push the mixture through a sieve before storing.

What makes a fruit butter? ›

Fruit butters are sweet spreads made by cooking fruit pulp with sugar to a thick consistency. Their smooth, spreadable texture makes them an ideal substitute for butter on bread, toast, or muffins. Although apple butter may be the most well-known of the fruit butters, they may be made from any firm fruit.

How long does homemade fruit butters last? ›

Spread it on toast, heat it up and serve on ice cream, even use it on grilled meat. Use apple butter on top of brie or melt havarti cheese on bread and top with peach butter. Fruit butters will last for one to two weeks in the refrigerator but they can also be frozen, using freezer-safe packaging.

Does fruit butter thicken as it cools? ›

Strain your puree, if necessary, to remove seeds, bits of peel, or any lumps. Put the smooth puree back into a clean pan, add lemon juice, and continue to cook, stirring often, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cool and then refrigerate. It will thicken further as it chills.

How long should I infuse my butter for? ›

Slice your butter sticks, so they fit into the reservoir, then close the lid. Consult the time and temperature calculator: 170°F degrees, and infusion for 5 hours. Some infüsiasts go up to 10 hours at 160°. This step will result in excellent infused butter.

How do you thicken fruit butter? ›

Apple butter is thickened by cooking it until most of the liquid has evaporated. This is usually a rather lengthy project, but results in a very thick, smooth texture. I prefer to use a slow cooker to do the final cooking of the apple puree.

What's the difference between fruit jam and fruit butter? ›

Butters: Butters are made from pureed fruit. They are not as sweet as preserves, jams, or jellies but offer a full fruit flavor. Butters are cooked for over 6 hours ,at a low temperature, allowing the product to thicken.

What are the different types of fruit butter? ›

Apple is probably the most popular butter, but apricot, peach, pear, plum, fig, quince and crab apple are also suitable. Butters can be made from fruits that have fallen to the ground and are generally not considered high enough in quality to can.

How long does fruit butter last? ›

Storing and Using. Store the finished fruit butter in airtight containers in the refrigerator or freezer. Fruit butter will last about 10 days stored in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer.

Why does homemade butter go bad? ›

butter is composed of at least 80 fat. so it will go through lipid oxidation. turning it rancid over time. the cream used to make butter has been pasteurized.

How do you use fruit butter? ›

So, fruit butters are more than just a spread for toast?
  1. Use in recipes in lieu of sugar in an apple crisp or applesauce.
  2. Mix 1 part butter spread to 1 part maple syrup for French toast and pancakes.
  3. Mix it into roasted or baked sweet potatoes.
  4. Use butter spreads and pecans as a crepe filling.
Sep 26, 2016

Does homemade fruit syrup go bad? ›

It can be expected to last for about six months in the fridge. Of course, no recipe or storage method is perfect, and you should still keep an eye out for signs of spoilage whenever you are enjoying your fruit syrup to keep yourself from ingesting anything unpleasant or dangerous to your health.

What does fruit butter taste like? ›

Fruit butters, as their name implies, are smooth, creamy spreads. They are made by slowly cooking fruit pulp and sugar to a thick but spreadable consistency. Spices or a second fruit are often added to enhance the flavor. Fruit butters are often made with less sugar than jams and have less of a candied fruit flavor.

Do you have to peel pears for pear butter? ›

Do I need to peel the pears? You can make this recipe with either canned pears, which require no prep (you just need to drain them), or you can use fresh. If using fresh core them and cut them into chunks. You don't have to peel fresh pears as we do blend them after cooking to get a smooth butter.

How do you thicken butter after melting it? ›

Add equal parts flour to the melted butter.

How do you know when apple butter is cooked? ›

To check for doneness: Spoon out some of the apple butter, turn the spoon upside down. The apple butter should cling to the spoon without falling off right away. If it does fall off, continue cooking to remove more of the liquid.

How do you know when to stop beating butter? ›

Increase speed to medium-high and beat butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes, or until mixture is smooth, has lightened in color, and has significantly increased in volume. For best results, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula at least once or twice before the creaming process is complete.

How do you know when butter is turning? ›

Any sour or off-putting smell means it's a goner. Same goes for taste: If it tastes sour or off, toss it out. 5 And don't worry, a small taste of rancid butter won't hurt you. Of course any visible mold, discoloration, and changes in texture are visible cues that it's time to throw the butter in the trash.

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