Apple butter originated in Europe during the Middle Ages. While the word “butter” appears in its name, it contains no butter similar to how peanut butter has no actual dairy butter in it. It’s really just concentrated applesauce that is typically made with cooked apples, sugar, and spices. The apples are cooked until caramelization occurs.
Frankly, there are a ton of apple butter brands. Too many to cover all of them here without going overboard with information. However, here are some of the more popular apple butter brands that often are easy to find online or at grocery stores.
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Brands of Apple Butter
Dickinson’s
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Dickinson’s is a brand of gourmet jams that became a part of Smucker’s in 1979. It originated in the late 1800s in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. There, Grandma Dickinson was a hardworking gardener who grew fruits to create delicious preserves. Her friends and family helped spread the word about how tasty Grandma Dickinson’s preserves were. Demand grew as word spread., which eventually helped transform Dickinson’s into a viable business.
Today, Dickinson’s makes various preserves, relishes, butters, and spreads. Its apple butter is called Country Apple Butter. Its ingredients are as follows:
Ingredients: Apples, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Vinegar, Sugar, Spices, Salt.
Dillman Farm
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Dillman Farm was started in 1970. It is a family business located in Bloomington, Indiana that produces all-natural products. The first product made by the founder was apple butter, which he delivered to a local restaurant during his milk route. Now Dillman Farm offers a wide variety of products including fruit butters, preserves, jelly, salsa, mustard, and much more.
These are the apple butter products made by Dillman:
Apple Butter Spread Ingredients: Fresh Cooked Apples, Pure Cane Sugar, Spices.
Apple Butter (No Sugar Added): Fresh Cooked Apples, Spices.
Organic Apple Butter Spread (No Sugar Added) Ingredients: Fresh Cooked Organic Apples, Organic Cinnamon.
Other fruit butters made by Dillman include Pumpkin, Cherry, Peach, Blueberry, Plum, Pear, Apple Cherry, and Apple Blueberry.
Eden
Find It: Store.edenfoods.com, Amazon.com
Eden Foods is headquartered in Clinton, Michigan, and is the oldest natural and organic food company in North America. It opened its doors in 1968 as a co-op that sourced macrobiotic/natural foods. Today, some of its most popular products are organic soymilk, black beans, applesauce, and chickpeas.
Eden makes these apple butter products:
Organic Apple Butter Ingredients: 98% Organic Apples, 2% Organic Apple Juice Concentrate.
Organic Apple Cherry Butter Ingredients: Organic Apples, Organic Montmorency Tart Cherry Puree, Organic Apple Juice Concentrate.
Other non-apple fruit butters made by Eden are Organic Grape Butter and Organic Cherry Butter.
Essenhaus
Find It: Shopessenhaus.com, Amazon.com
Bob and Sue Miller moved from Ohio to Middlebury, Indiana where they opened an Amish-style restaurant staffed with Mennonite and Amish workers. This was the beginning of Das Dutch Essenhaus which now also runs an inn, conference center, and shops. The company makes Apple Butter, Apple Butter with No Sugar, and Honey Apple Butter.
Fischer & Wieser
Find It: Store.jelly.com, Amazon.com
Mark Wieser opened a fruit stand called Das Peach Haus in Fredericksburg, Texas in 1969. The community loved Mark’s local peaches and preserves so much that they kept coming back for more. Mark met a man named Case Fischer in 1979 who he hired to harvest peaches. Case’s handwork and passion for the business of farming and preserving resulted in the creation of Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods in 1986.
Today, the company sells over 150 items including two apple butter products: Pecan Apple Butter and Reserve Limited Edition Caramel Apple Butter. Here are the ingredients of these butters:
Pecan Apple Butter Ingredients: Apple Sauce (Apples & Water), Sugar, Pecans, Spices.
Reserve Limited Edition Caramel Apple Butter Ingredients: Applesauce, Sugar, Water, Dried Apples, Modified Food Starch, Heavy Whipping Cream, Natural Flavor, Butter, Spices.
Hearth and Pantry
Find It: Buy Online
Hearth and Pantry is the creation of Matt and Tiffany Rogers. Through their product development and manufacturing firm called RogersMade, the couple has produced a number of brands that primarily make foods and beverages like honey, sauces, grits, syrups, and more.
Hearth and Pantry makes four apple butter products out of its Chattanooga, Tennessee manufacturing facility. The ingredients of each product are:
Classic Dutch Apple Ingredients: Sugar, Apple Puree (Apples, Water, Ascorbic Acid), Apple Cider, Cinnamon, Vanilla Extract, and Sea Salt.
Salted Apple Ingredients: Sugar, Apple Puree (Apples, Water, Ascorbic Acid), Apple Cider, Caramelized Sugar, Vanilla Extract, and Sea Salt.
Gingerbread Apple Butter Ingredients: Sugar, Apple Puree, Apple Cider, Molasses, Ginger, Clove, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt
Spiced Pumpkin Apple Butter Ingredients: Sugar, Apple Puree, Apple Cider, Pumpkin Puree, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt
Manischewitz
Find It: Amazon.com
Manischewitz was started by Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz in the late 1800s in Cincinnati. It began as a small matzo bakery but has since expanded to offer a variety of kosher products including cookies, matzo, crackers, soup, grape juice, snacks, spreads, and more.
Manischewitz’s Original Apple Butter comes in a 17 oz. jar. It has the following ingredients:
Ingredients: Fresh Apples and Apple Cider.
Mrs. Miller
Find It: MillersHomemadeJams.com, Amazon.com
As with many food companies, Mrs. Miller’s began in the family kitchen using stockpots to create jellies, jams, and butters. Its first products were apple butter, strawberry, and blackberry spreads. The business has grown to 70+ products since the early days some 30 years ago. The company is headquartered in Fredericksburg, Ohio; an area known for its Amish population.
Mrs. Miller’s makes traditional and sugarless apple butter products. Here are their ingredients:
Traditional Apple Butter Ingredients: Apples, Pure Cane Sugar, Apple Cider Vinegar, Water, Cinnamon.
Sugarless Apple Butter Ingredients: Apples, Cider, Cinnamon, Citric Acid.
Musselman’s
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Musselman’s is a cooperative consisting of more than 100 farm families who own it. The business dates back to 1907 when a Mennonite, John S. Musselman, Sr., and his two sons acquired a fruit and vegetable canning plant in Biglerville, Pennsylvania. The production of apple products soon became the focus with Musselman building his own machine to produce applesauce. Musselman became the leader in selling apple products by 1934.
The company has been making apple butter for over 80 years. It is still made based on a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. Its ingredients are:
Ingredients: Apples, Sugar and Spices (Cinnamon And Cloves).
Oregon Growers
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Oregon Growers was founded by Dave Gee in 2003 in northern Oregon. The company uses local fresh and in-season fruits from the Pacific Northwest to produce its products. Oregon Growers specializes in making jams, fruit spreads, fruit butters, cheese condiments, honey, syrups, and sauces.
Oregon Growers Apple Butter is made with Hood River Sonata Oregon Apples, Cane Sugar, Fresh Thyme, Spices, and Citric Acid. With only 4 grams of sugar, most people won’t find this apple butter brand overly sweet.
Red Jacket
Find It: Where To Buy
Red Jacket is located in Geneva, a city in the picturesque Finger Lakes of New York. It began as a family-operated fruit farm in 1958. Today, the Nicholson family runs the 250-acre farm consisting of tree fruits like apples, cherries, and plums. They specialize in making pressed juices and other fruit-based products with each harvest.
Red Jacket’s Apple Butter has the following ingredients:
Ingredients: Select Apples, Apple Cider, Cinnamon.
Scherger’s Kettle
Find It: Shipshewanajams.com, Amazon.com
It was a tradition of the Scherger family to use a 50-gallon copper kettle from the late 1800s to produce apple butter each fall for over three generations. The apples came from the family orchard planted by Anton Scherger many years ago. An early family tradition has created a stronger company that makes over 100 different products like salsas, butters, jams, and jellies.
Here are the two apple butters made by Scherger’s Kettle and their ingredients:
Homestyle Apple Butter Ingredients: Apples, Sugar, Cinnamon, Pectin, Cloves, and Salt.
All Natural Low Sugar Apple Butter Ingredients: Apples, Evaporated Cane Juice, Pectin, Cinnamon, Salt, Cloves.
Shiloh Farms
Find It: Where To Buy
Shiloh Farms has been in business since 1942. They are considered a pioneer in natural and organic foods. Today, they offer 180 items with a selection of USDA-certified organic items.
Shiloh Farms Apple Butter is available in a 17 oz. jar. It’s made with minimal ingredients as follows:
Ingredients: Red Delicious with some Yellow Delicious, Staymen, and Yorks
Smucker’s
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Smucker’s is one of the most recognized names down the jelly aisle in American grocery stores. While its best known for its fruit spreads like strawberry or grape, the company’s first product in 1897 was actually apple butter. From apple butter, the company was able to build one of America’s most admired companies with over 40 brands including Folgers, Jif, Uncrustables, and Milk-Bone. According to the company, 90% of U.S. dwellings have a Smucker’s product on their pantry shelves.
Smucker’s makes Cider Apple Butter which is available in 11 oz. and 16 oz. glass jars. Here are its ingredients:
Ingredients: Apples, Apple Cider, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup.
Tap’n Apple
Find It: Amazon.com
Tap’n Apple is an excellent choice for people looking to avoid sugar and other potentially unwanted ingredients. This apple butter brand is made with simple ingredients – only two to be exact. You might consider this brand if you like apple butter in the morning on toast or an English muffin since it lacks sugar, which arguably isn’t the greatest thing to consume when starting the day.
Ingredients: Apples, Apple Cider Concentrate.
Tennessee’s Best
Find It: TennesseeBest.com, Amazon.com
Tennessee’s Best is a family-owned business headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company makes a variety of fruit butter in addition to apple including pumpkin, pear, and strawberry butter. Its apple butter is made the old-fashion way in small batches and open kettle cooked. Its ingredients are:
Ingredients: Apples, Sugar, Apple Juice Concentrate, Cinnamon, Citric Acid, Spices, Salt.
The Backyard Food Company
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
The Backyard Food Company was established in 2014 by Matt McClelland and Louby Sukkar. After receiving treatment for and recovering from a large cancerous tumor in his gut, Matt felt the need to eat healthier and to take control of his diet. He did this by growing a large backyard garden that could be harvested for healthy foods for his family. Matt eventually teamed up with Louby, a local pizza maker with gardening experience, to start canning and preserving their excess crops. As friends and family tried what the men were making, demand grew. This was a sign that they had something good brewing which was ultimately the start of The Backyard Food Company.
The Backyard Food Company’s Apple Butter has the following ingredients:
Ingredients: Apples, Pure Cane Sugar, Cinnamon, Cloves.
Walden Farms
Find It: Where To Buy, Amazon.com
Walden Farms is known for its calorie-free foods and is considered a pioneer in this category. It specializes in salad dressings, syrups, sauces, dips, coffee creamers, and similar products. Many people on special diets seek out Walden’s products including people who practice veganism, keto, and gluten-free living.
Here are the ingredients for Walden Farms Apple Butter:
Ingredients: Water, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Gellan Gum, Carob Gum, Sodium Benzoate And Potassium Sorbate To Preserve Freshness, Sucralose, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Citrate, Caramel Color, Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon. Contains: Sulfites
White House
Website: Whitehousefoods.com
White House Foods has been making apple products since 1908. It is a family business located in Winchester, Virginia, which is about 1.5 hours from the actual White House. Applesauce is a top seller for the company but they also make a variety of other apple products such as apple cider vinegar, apple juice, and, of course, apple butter.
White House Apple Butter is made with the following simple ingredients:
Ingredients: Apples, Sugar, and Spices.
Featured Image Credit – m01229/flickr cc
