Apple Paste - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 liters dry apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
2 1/2 kg cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
600 -800 g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice of

Preparation

Boil cider and cinanamon in a large saucepan and boil until reduced by a third.
Add apples and simmer for about 45 minutes or until apples turn to mush.
Remove cinnamon stick.
Push apple through an sieve and measure amount of puree. Allow 1 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of puree.
Place puree and sugar in a pan, dissolve sugar over a lower heat and increase the heat when sugar is disolved.
Once boiling stir continuously with a wooden spoon for about 25 minutes, or until the mixture is very thick, a rich gold colour and come away from the sides of the saucepan.
Add and stir in the lemon juice.
Spoon mixture into hot sterilized wide neck jars, and seal and store in a coold and dry place OR I PREFER TO --.
Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Spread the paste evenly to form a 2cm slab. Leave to cool completely. Invert onto a plate. Leave for a day or two to dry. Store in an airtight container.