Re: VM and Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter

[Guest guest]

I'm actually making this and it does NOT come anywhere close to being done in 6 hours. My son started the crock pot at Noon, came back and stirred it at 1PM, and then vented the top with a chopstick. (I know the exact times because I set my alarm on my smart phone and called him at Noon and at 1PM.) I got home at 5:15PM. It was still soupy, but I added the sugar, lemon, and spices anyway. I turned the heat to high and took the lid off. Nothing. Nada. Two and a half hours later, it's still not even close to being done. It appears I will be up all night cooking this. I should have turned it on at 7AM this morning and let it cook all day. Yikes! Slow cooking aside, I liked this recipe as it has

less sugar. I sampled it after adding the spices and it has a really nice flavor. I'll just know, when I make it next time, that it takes way longer than the 6 hours the author quoted. Lorihttp://lifeontheveganedge.blogspot.com/From: Vickilynn Haycraft <realfoodliving@...> < >Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 8:10 PMSubject: VM and Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter

http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/06/june-can-jam-slow-cooker-blueberry-butter/(pictures at this website)

June Can Jam: Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter

Posted on June 25, 2010 by marisa

Lately, I’ve been turning to two gadgets to make my preserving work just a little bit easier to accomplish. The first is my trusty Vita-mix.

I grew up with the vintage chrome version of this incredible blender and so during wedding time last year, made it a priority to dedicate some of our gifted resources to acquiring my own.

While I had an inkling that it had the potential to be a transformative piece of equipment, I had no idea how it would revolutionize my jam making. Here’s what makes it so special: When you run it on very low speed, it doesn’t puree the fruit. It just chops it up into small bits, which coincidentally, are the absolutely perfect size for jams and butters. I know it’s a little bit unfair to rave about

something that’s so darned expensive, but really, this thing has changed my life for the better.

The other small electrical appliance (that happens to be on the very other end of the cost spectrum) that I’m using all the time these days is my ancient, $3-at-a-thrift-store slow cooker. I’ve found that older slow cookers are far superior to newer ones, because they cook at lower

temperatures. Truly, food safety regulations have made it so that what

was once the high setting on the old pots is now the low setting on the new ones (you should never be able to achieve a boil in one of the pots from the seventies or eighties). And when you’re cooking a butter,

you want to cook it as low and slow as you can. Slow cookers are truly

perfect for this.

This particular butter reminds me a bit of blueberry pie, which makes

it a winner in my book. Tomorrow morning, I’m having some friends over to do a little fruit butter tasting (in recent days, I’ve also made apricot butter and sweet cherry butter). We’ll see if they like the blueberry version as much as I do.

Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter

makes approximately 3 1/2 pints of butter

8 cups of pureed blueberries [in VitaMix]

2 cups [organic unrefined] sugar

1 lemon, zested

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Put the pureed blueberries in a slow cooker. Place a lid on the pot and turn it on to low. After about an hour, give it a stir. At this point, you want to use something to prop the lid a bit. I found that laying a wooden spoon across the rim of the cooker and then placing the lid on gave it just enough room to let the steam evaporate.

My blueberry butter spent about six hours in the slow cooker (from 5:30 p.m. when I got home from work, until 11:30 p.m. when I canned and processed it). At the beginning of hour five, I added the spices and the

sugar, removed the lid completely and turned the heat up to high, in order to speed the cooking down.

Once it’s cooked down sufficiently*, pour into jars (leave a good 1/2

inch of head space), wipe rims, apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Eat on fresh scones and store unopened jars in a cool, dark place.

*When the cooking process is done, you can puree with an immersion blender or (carefully) in a regular blender, for a smoother product. It depends on whether you like your butters a bit chunky or very smooth.-- ~~In Messiah Yeshua,Vickilynn HaycraftMicah 6:8http://www.realfoodliving.com

http://www.blog.realfoodliving.comhttp://www.examiner.com/housewares-in-national/vickilynn-haycraft

http://www.examiner.com/family-preparedness-in-national/vickilynn-haycrafthttp://www.bepreparedradio.com/category/prepper-podcasts-preparedness/get-real-get-prepared/