I was skeptical, too, about leaving the crock pot open. But with it on high, it does still boil. And that way, you get a very thick apple butter cuz the water boils off. Yes, the neighbors all know when we're making apple butter. As far as a favorite apple, we use the apples we have in our yard - I have no idea what type they are. The tree was planted before we bought the house (probably along with that Kieffer pear). They are small, round, red and sweet. We also use the red and yellow delicious apples from my in-laws' yard. They are unable to get up in the trees to pick anymore due to age/health, so give us all we want. If I had to buy apples, I don't think I'd make apple butter out of them. -----Original Message----- From: penny x stamm [mailto:pennyx1@Juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 11:07 PM To: gardeners@globalgarden.com Subject: Re: [gardeners] Apple butter Alice, my thanks for the instructions -- it sounds like fun this fall. Forgot to ask you if you have a favorite apple for the job..? Never heard of leaving a crock pot open before -- should smell up the house with wonderful perfume! Penny, NY . . ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.