I made and canned it in 1993. It was the last jar of that one and only epic apple butter making marathon - I think I made three or four gallons. My husband ate a jar of it a couple of years ago and it was still good, but on this last jar, the top had popped and it was no longer safe.
The thing about it was, my husband still wanted to eat it. I kept putting it with the organic waste to be thrown out and he kept putting it back on the counter in the kitchen, planning to eat it. In the interest of making it to our next anniversary, I finally carried it out myself and threw it away.
While apple butter from store bought apples might not be as good, I think I will have to make more this year. The secret of the great taste from the old batch might be that it was made from all the peels and cores of the "pretty" apples we sliced and made into apple pie filling and from all the bruised and damaged apples from our three trees. We cut off the worst spots, but not all the damaged areas got taken out.
I just threw everything into a huge pot, simmered it until everything was nice and soft, ran the mess through a food mill and added sugar and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and mace) until it tasted good. Ladled it into clean jars, water bath processed them. Simple and easy even if it was a lot of work.
Apple butter and peanut butter sandwiches are the best thing, ever! Yeah - it's time to make more!
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