I had some apples sitting around in the icebox for a little too long so I decided to make some apple sauce. I had about a half dozen medium to large Granny Smiths and about a dozen and a half of various sized Galas.
I peeled them with a potato peeler. We have one of those apple peeler/corer thing-a-ma-gigs, but the potato peeler was quicker. Besides, who knows where the hell the wife had stowed away the apple peelers thing-a-ma-gig. It was a little difficult to get the potato peeler started but once you did they went really quick and were easy to peel.
Once I had them all cut up and in the pot I noticed that I was making quite a lot of apple sauce. So I canned them.
Let’s get started:
For the apple sauce you will need:
2 Dozen Apples
1 to 2 cups Sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)
1 to 3 tsp ground cinnamon (same as above, how cinamonny do you like it)
1 tsp Vanilla (please use the real stuff)
1 Tbls Lemon Juice
As I was peeling them, I quartered them and sliced them into pieces. I placed them in a large pot with just barely enough water, with the lemon juice, to cover them. The lemon juice helps to inhibit browning. I think I’ll use a larger pot next time.
Add the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and place on the stove over high heat until they just start to boil. Bring the heat down to a low simmer and cook till they become mash-able. Mine took about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Some where quite easy to mash but some pieces took a little longer to cook.
You can freeze the apple sauce or “can” the sauce like I did. The canning process can be a dangerous proposition if not done right. So I am going to leave that up to you. I suggest you get yourself a copy of the Ball Blue Book. I found it on many web sites and your local book store should have a copy you can purchase. Amazon had it for only $8.95.
Follow there instructions to the letter and you will have a successful canning experience like me.
One more thing the Ball Blue Book says to run your apple sauce thru a sieve or china cap. I didn’t I prefer mine nice and chunky, your call.
I love chunky applesauce. I made a huge batch with the apples we picked but I froze mine. I do enough canning and applesauce freezes really well.
It’s Great, all most better than eating fresh apples.