This apple butter is an excellent accompaniment to roast pork, as it veers more toward savory than sweet, but we still enjoy it swirled into yogurt and spread on sourdough toast with salted butter. Please read How to Process.

Weigh:

Record the weight. Prepare a smoker. Place apples on the rack in the smoker. Smoke at 225° to 250°F for 1 hour. Transfer the apples to a large pot and add:

Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft, about 15 minutes. Run through a food mill fitted with the medium disk and measure the puree. Transfer the puree to a pot or roasting pan.

Add for every 1 cup puree:

Bring to a boil and simmer over medium-low heat or bake in a 300°F oven, stirring every hour, until the butter is thick and can be mounded on a spoon. It should not exude any thin liquid.

While the butter cooks, prepare a water-bath canner, gather all your canning equipment, and have ready clean, hot half-pint jars (about 2 half-pint jars per every initial pound of apples).

Ladle the butter into prepared jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Wipe the rims. Place lids on jars and screw on rings until fingertip-tight. Process for 15 minutes. Let cool completely and store as directed.