Applesauce

These are apples from our amazing heirloom apple tree. It gives us an abundance of these big, beautiful apples every year. I can’t believe how great these apples still look in mid-June!

When we picked them in October/November, we wrapped them individually in newspaper and stored what we didn’t can/sell right away in the crisper of our outside fridge. They still look beautiful. They are crisp and just a bit sweeter for their months in storage.

I have about 3 dozen left, and I thought I’d make one last batch of applesauce and try out my new KitchenAid Fruit strainer. Normally, I would use my Apple peeler/corer/slicer to prepare the apples, but I wasn’t sure how solid they would be. Perfect test!

First, I cut the apples into chunks & heated them up in a pot with a little bit of water and lemon juice.

Once they were softened, I put them through the fruit strainer. It’s a pretty messy process. Here’s my crazy set up.

I ended up with a quart of sauce from 8 apples.

Here’s what was left after putting the apples through twice:

Kind of gross, but the chickens will love it!

I made three batches–one plain, one with cinnamon & sugar, and one mulberry.

Basic Recipe for one Quart:

8-10 large apples, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks. (If you have a strainer, you can skip the peeling)

1 T lemon juice

For cinnamon applesauce:

Add 1 tsp cinnamon and about 1/2 c sugar.

For Mulberry applesauce:

Add 3-4 cups mulberries, 1 c sugar, and 2 T lemon juice.

Heat apples with 1/2 c water and a little squeeze of lemon juice until soft. Then put through the strainer or mash in the pot. (When making mulberry applesauce, cook mulberries with apples.)

After straining apples, add other ingredients to taste.

Put in sterilized jars & process in a boiling water canner for 30 minutes. Make sure to check your times here: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/applesauce.html.

Karen