Chey’s Lounge

Idk when I am actually going to post this tonight, but I’m starting at 7:42 p.m. There’s another snowstorm near me. I had this idea of getting apples or apple sauce and making apple butter. I had already gone to the store earlier today and gotten ingredients to make latkes, just in case, you know? I got some apple sauce. Nothing crazy bc the store I was at didn’t have like any crazy brands. The store wasn’t necessarily a zoo, but it was definitely active. After it started snowing, the urge to make apple butter (for the first time ever) struck violently. The snow was coming down heavily, but I ventured to the store. I did not have enough apple sauce. And it looks like ground ginger is an ingredient if you use apple sauce instead of starting with apples. Well, after getting to the store for the second time today, I wasn’t able to find any ground ginger. I also couldn’t find any fancy apple sauce, but that wasn’t unexpected given the store (different store than earlier, same sentiment regarding the prospective availability of fancy apple sauce). I looked for quite a while and in multiple places, despite knowing very well it was only going to be in one of 2 places, and most likely not in the second. I decided to look for fresh ginger instead and see what I could conjure up. However, in my travels to the produce, I stumbled upon some nuts and such. I looked closer, hoping to find candied ginger, thinking that would probably be a better alternative than whatever I would manage to do with fresh ginger to replicate the desired ground ginger flavor. It was there! So here I am, attempting to make apple butter. I didn’t have ground clove, so despite the recipe calling for multiple other ingredients they recommended freshly grounding/grinding (ie. Nutmeg and cinnamon)and the recipe calling for ground clove with no mention of doing the grinding yourself, I ground up a few whole cloves myself. Idk why I didn’t try grating a cinnamon stick when I have one. I put it in there along with some pre-ground Ceylon cinnamon. I of course added a little bit of chopped-up candied ginger. I also added some lemon juice, allspice, and nutmeg. It’s been simmering for almost 2 hours now, and it still doesn’t feel done to me. Like, no, I’ve never made apple butter before, and I’ve only had it 3 separate times at one place, but I just know in my heart it has a while left in its tank. I’m getting a little sleepy though… rats. I must persevere. I think I will use an immersion blender to make it smoother once it’s done. For now, we wait.