AFTER HOURS — ISSUE 02
Candy Caps, Apple Butter & Something on the Turntable
Something shifts around here this time of year.
Honey harvest is wrapping up. The light changes. The orchard suddenly needs our attention. Apples start landing in baskets, on the kitchen table, and—whether we’re ready for them or not—all over the ground beneath the trees.
And sooner or later, the crockpot comes out.
And on a Monday afternoon, when the farm is closed and things are finally a little quieter, that usually means one thing around here:
Apple butter.
Apple butter has been part of my fall routine for years. Not the delicate, barely-sweet kind. The good stuff. Dark, spiced, sticky, honey-sweetened apple butter that cooks all day and half the night and makes the entire house smell ridiculous.
This year, we gave an old favorite a slightly stranger twist.
Because apparently apples weren’t enough.
We added mushrooms.
Kathy and Brian picking apples in the Beekeeper’s Orchard at Fat Head Honey Farms
THE ODD LITTLE INGREDIENT
Candy cap mushrooms, to be exact.
If you’ve never heard of them, you’re in very good company.
These funny little mushrooms are known for an almost unbelievable natural aroma—sweet, warm and intensely maple-like. Think maple syrup, brown sugar and a little something woodsy happening in the background.
Which is exactly why we became mildly obsessed with putting them in honey.
Our Candy Cap Maple Honey gets that maple-y character from actual candy cap mushrooms. No maple syrup. No trees tapped.
Just honey + mushrooms doing something unexpectedly wonderful together.
And with a basketful of orchard apples sitting on the kitchen table, there really was only one reasonable thing to do.
Make apple butter.
Candy Cap Maple Honey surrounded by candy cap mushrooms
FROM THE RECIPE BOOK
I’ve made a lot of apple butter over the years.
There are handwritten versions tucked into binders, recipes scribbled onto cards and different batches involving everything from raw honey to smoked honey to bourbon.
This one sticks pretty close to the ratios I already know and love.
Because if your apple butter already kicks ass, there is absolutely no reason to reinvent it for the internet.
Crockpot Honey Apple Butter
Crockpot honey apple butter made with orchard apples and Candy Cap Maple Honey
You’ll need:
4 quarts apple purée
2¾–3 cups honey
3 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
For this batch, we’re using Candy Cap Maple Honey for that warm maple-like flavor.
But this recipe is wonderfully forgiving in that department. Use raw honey. Use Candy Cap Maple. Mix the two. Try smoked honey if you want something deeper. Bourbon Barrel Aged if you’re feeling a little wild.
Consider the honey part an invitation to play.
The very complicated directions:
Throw it all in the crockpot.
Cook low + slow for 16–20 hours, stirring occasionally, until it turns dark, thick and glossy.
That’s it.
Eat it warm on good bread. Spoon it over biscuits. Swirl it into oatmeal. Hand someone a spoon and stand around the kitchen pretending you aren’t both eating it directly from the jar.
If putting food up is your thing, ladle it hot into jars and process in a hot-water bath for 10 minutes.
And if canning isn’t your thing?
Put it in the refrigerator.
We support easy.
THE POUR
Candy Cap Cider Sparkler
Sparkling apple cider drink made with Candy Cap Maple Honey
While the crockpot handles the hard labor, we need something to drink.
This one is sparkling, apple-y and just fancy enough to justify breaking off a little piece of honeycomb for the top.
For one:
4 oz apple cider
½–1 oz fresh lemon juice
1–2 teaspoons Candy Cap Maple Honey
sparkling water
ice
apple slice
little piece of honeycomb, if you’re feeling fancy
Stir the Candy Cap Maple into the cider and lemon until dissolved.
Pour over ice and top generously with sparkling water.
Garnish with an apple slice and a little chunk of honeycomb.
That’s the drink.
Want to make it a cocktail? A splash of bourbon would not hurt anyone’s feelings.
But it absolutely doesn’t need it.
THE PLAYLIST
September, Side A
Vintage record player and crockpot apple butter in the farm kitchen
The crockpot needs approximately seventeen thousand hours, so fortunately we’ve got records.
For this one I’m thinking old country, outlaw country and voices that sound particularly good coming out of a slightly crackly speaker while the kitchen smells like cinnamon.
And since Patsy is literally hanging out behind the crockpot in the photos, she gets first billing.
After Hours — September
Patsy Cline — Walkin’ After Midnight
Johnny Cash — I Walk the Line
Loretta Lynn — You Ain’t Woman Enough
Merle Haggard — Silver Wings
Willie Nelson — Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Waylon Jennings — You Ask Me To
Merle Haggard — Mama Tried
Dolly Parton — The Bargain Store
Townes Van Zandt — If I Needed You
John Prine — Angel from Montgomery
Linda Ronstadt — Blue Bayou
The Highwaymen — Highwayman
Patsy Cline — Crazy
Bonus track: Willie Nelson — September Song
LISTEN TO AFTER HOURS SEPTEMBER PLAYLIST
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SUMMER & FALL
That’s this little in-between season around here.
Honey harvest is wrapped up. There are still bees flying and flowers hanging on. The grass is impossibly green.
But there are apples in the kitchen.
There’s cinnamon in the air.
There’s something spinning on the record player.
And there’s a crockpot on the counter that’s going to be there until approximately tomorrow.
We’ll take it.
Until next time,
Kathy + Brian and The Fat Head Crew