The roots of apple butter lie in Limburg (Belgium and the Netherlands) and Rhineland (Germany), conceived during the Middle Ages, when the first monasteries (with large orchards) appeared.

Sometimes seasoned with cinnamon, clove, and other spices, apple butter is usually spread on bread, used as a side dish, an ingredient in baked goods, or as a condiment.

Vinegar or lemon juice is sometimes mixed in while cooking to provide a small amount of tartness to the usually sweet apple butter.

The Pennsylvania Dutch often include apple butter as part of their traditional 'seven sweets and seven sours' dinner table array.

Russian Пови́дло (from Czech povidla, or Polish powidła or powidło) is prepared by the reduction of fruit puree with some sugar and sometimes spices.

Small amounts of sodium bicarbonate are added to the mixture in order to reduce acidity and help bring out sweetness from the natural fructose available in the apples.

Typically, the jars are sterilized before packaging to ensure no harmful microorganisms or bacteria will infect the product, causing it to spoil.

[8] The main sources of spoilage, molds, yeasts and enzymes, are killed at the temperatures reached in the hot water bath during the sterilization process for cans and jars.

Freezing jars of apple butter can help to maintain quality and inhibit bacterial growth.

Apple butter does not require sterilization at extremely high temperatures to reach optimum storage and maintain quality, so the pressure canning process is not typically used for this product.

[11] The preservation of apple butter involves application of several food science concepts, including controlling the temperature, water activity, and level of acidity in the product.

Thermal processing not only helps produce texture and flavor characteristic to apple butter but is also a common way of sterilizing food products.

[11] As a result of thermal processing and the softening of the apples, the presence of air bubbles can be minimized during canning.

[16] Acidity in foods creates a less favorable environment for the survival of microorganisms, thus inhibiting the growth of bacteria and molds.

[16][17] Some recipes may include the addition of vinegar as a way to further bring down the pH and preserve the quality of the end product.

[19][20] Sodium benzoate, an additive allowed under the Canadian food regulation, is capable of inhibiting the growth of fungi and has been used as a preservative in apple butter.

[21][22][23] It is possible to observe spoilage in apple butter if the end product is not properly sterilized during the canning process, allowing microorganisms to survive and grow in the container.

[25] Studies have also shown that a longer period of heat treatment can reduce the levels of patulin present in the product.

In the Netherlands, appelstroop is widely recognised as a good source of iron, a dietary element in which modern diets are frequently considered deficient.

There is a widespread view that the iron content arises from the interaction of the acid in the apples with the metal of vessels in which the appelstroop is prepared and packaged.

Canning is a process where pre-packaged food is exposed to moist heat of at least 121 °C for a certain amount of time in order to kill microorganisms that cause spoilage and disease.

[32] Although apple butter is at low risk for food-borne disease if canned improperly, especially when being made at home, the product may grow dangerous microorganisms.

In various locations across the United States, the production of apple butter is associated with a community event, most often occurring in the fall at the end of the apple-harvest season.

At many of these events, apple butter is cooked on-site in the traditional method, using huge copper kettles over open fires that are stirred for hours.

Apple Butter Makin' Days has been held on the courthouse square in Mount Vernon, Missouri, each October since 1967.

Fenner Nature Center[43] in Lansing, Michigan, also has an annual Apple Butter Festival on the third weekend of October.