Applesauce

This isn’t my recipe for applesauce. This is a process you can go through to try to create your “recipe” for applesauce.

Ingredients:
Apples

Ingredients to have on hand:
Sugar (brown or white)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves

What kind of apples? Ask the person who grows your apples. Yes, that means going to an apple orchard. My favorites are Hillside Orchard near Casco, Wisconsin and Collegeville Orchards in Collegeville, Minnesota. My favorite applesauce apple is Macintosh. I recently did a batch using Paula Red, and it turned out well.

How many apples? As many as you have, or as many as fit in the pot. For your first batch, grab a peck (a small bag)

Begin your sauce by washing and polishing the apples. This removes any pesticides or anything else nature may have left behind. Please, don’t think peeling the apple removes all of this stuff. It removes a lot, but, in my opinion, if it’s on the knife, it could be in the pot. I feed this stuff to babies…

When they’re clean and dry, sit down and start peeling. You can use an apple machine if you have one, but a simple knife will do. (Well, two actually, one to peel and one to quarter and remove the cores from your apples.) While I don’t mind my applesauce turning a little brown, if you do, toss your apples into water with Fruit Fresh or lemon juice after you peel them.

Cooking the sauce: Cover the bottom of the pan with a little bit of water. Add the apples (drained, if you had them in water) and salt them. When I say salt, I mean, as if they were a helping of mashed potatoes or vegetables. Cook on medium low, stirring every few minutes. Apples can scorch, so keep an eye on the pot.

From here, the recipe becomes yours. How long do you cook the sauce? Until it’s the consistency that you like. What it thicker? Keep cooking. Like it lumpy? Cook it less. Like it smooth? You might want to whip it with an immersion blender or hand mixer in the pot, or in a blender or stand mixer just before canning.

As for sweetness, spiciness, etc. It’s up to you. When the sauce is nearing the consistency you like, taste it. Is it sweet enough for your taste? If not, add sugar, brown sugar or some splenda – about a quarter cup at a time. Stir until it’s well-incorporated, then taste again. If you like cinnamon, add it, a half or full teaspoon at a time. Nutmeg, try a quarter teaspoon at a time. Cloves, a pinch. Each time, stir until well-incorporated. IMPORTANT: you can always add a seasoning, you can’t take it away, so go slow.

To preserve: Applesauce freezes well, so if you have the space, pour into a freezer zip-top back, get rid of as much air as possible and freeze. Personally, I prefer to can it. Pour the sauce into jars, leaving a little headspace. Process pints in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Every time I make applesauce, it tastes different, and that’s ok.

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

This is by far my most requested recipe. It is not mine. It comes from my mother. She got it from Angie Haen, mother of one of my dad's high school buddies. Where Angie got it, I don't know, but I do know that this recipe is best when two people work together at it. One using an apple machine to peel, core and slice the apples, and the other person doing the rest.


Enough Apples to fill 7 quart jars (ok, well, when I do, 9 jars)
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
10 cups of hot water
3 tbsp lemon juice

Peel, core and slice the apples into as uniform slices as you can. As you slice them, toss them into a combination of water and Fruit Fresh or water and lemon juice to prevent browning. I prefer Cortland apples for this, though I recently used Paula Reds with good results. Any strong baking apple with do.

For the syrup, combine all of the other ingredients except the lemon juice and cook until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Add lemon juice. 

Tightly pack the apples into quart jars. Shake, twist and tap the jars to get as many apples in each as you can. Pour syrup over apples, leaving a little head space. Carefully clean the rim of the glass. Seal the jars and process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. (or at 5 lbs for 10 minutes in a pressure canner) 

To make a pie, dump a quart of the pie filling into an unbaked pie shell. Slice a fresh apple or two on top, just to be sure there are plenty of apples. Top with another crust and slice a few holes, or do the whole crisp-pie thing.  Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

This recipe is also amazing over pork chops.