Brown Sugar Double Apple Jam

Of all the sandwich spreads, jam is my favorite (to eat and make LOL).  I'm thinking about entering this one at next year's State Fair.  It's apple pie-y and slightly caramel-y from the unusual addition of brown sugar.  It's a "double" apple jam recipe b/c I use apple cider instead of water, the same way I do for applesauce.  I think I may play with the spice combination a bit, but as is, it's a delicious twist on regular apple jam.

I've tried a variety of chopping methods to make apple spreads, and the best IMHO is putting the apples through the coarse grating plate of my food processor.  The pieces come out uniformly and it's so much faster than hand-dicing.  The apples do seem to brown a bit faster when they're mechanically cut vs. handcutting (I guess b/c the plates aren't quite as sharp as my knives, and "tear" the apple flesh more, creating more surface area to oxidize?) but since you're using brown sugar anyway, color matters a little less.  You can toss the grated apples into some lemon-infused water if you want, but I think that just makes them wetter than you want for jam-making.

By the by, when you see butter called for in a jam or jelly recipe, it's to cut down on the foaming that occurs once the protein-heavy pectin is added to the pot. 


Brown Sugar Apple Jam
Makes 9 half-pints

8 cups peeled, cored and grated apples (I used 2.5 lbs of Matsui apples)
1/2 cup apple cider
3 cups white sugar
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp butter (optional)
1 1.75 oz packet regular pectin (or 6 tbsp loose pack "classic" pectin)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Put apples in a very large stockpot.  Add cider and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 10 minutes. 

Stir in sugars, butter, pectin and spices.  Bring to a boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring. 

Ladle into prepared jars, leaving 1/4" headspace and process in a boiling water bath 10 minutes. Pin It