Make it Yourself: Applesauce
by Rachel Tayse • October 2, 2009 • Local Food, Make it Yourself, Recipes & Meals • 8 Comments
Apples are my favorite fruit. They keep well, are crunchy and sweet, travel easily, and are completely delicious.
Being that we live in the land of Johnny Appleseed, Ohio apples are in abundance from June – October. We pick bushels (literally) and eat apples fresh, dried, and sauced.
Applesauce is easy and tasty to make yourself. There are several methods, all involving these four simple steps:
1) Core and peel (optional) apples. Add spices or lemon juice (to preserve color) if you wish.
$3 apple slicer from Ikea saves a lot of work
2) Stew on stove top with a bit of water for 30 minutes or oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours
Stewing is finished when all slices are soft
3) Puree with blender, potato masher, or food mill
food milling is a perfect activity for kids, necklace optional
4) Store in freezer containers or can in glass jars (20 minutes canning time for quarts, 15 for pints, fill to 1/4 inch)
Personally, we make two varieties each year. Method A (my sisters’ favorite) is to peel and core the apples, chop finely, and stew on the stove. This makes an evenly textured sauce called ‘chunky applesauce’ in my family. The other, easier variety is ‘smooth applesauce’ made by coring and slicing in one step with an apple slicer, stewing on the stove, then processing with a food mill. I prefer stove top stewing vs. oven baking because it is faster and the less cooking for the apples, the less nutritional value lost.
all natural pink color
We just made smooth applesauce with the Liberty apples from Charlie’s farm. The peels, even though we discarded them after milling, made the applesauce bright pink! It was so tasty we needed no sweetener. If I can bring myself to share my stash, I might give some of the Liberty pink sauce as Xmas gifts. Can’t you just see a jar topped with a pretty pink and green holiday fabric? 
I have another method for you to try. Instead of running it through a food mill, peel then use the corer/ slicer. Heat with the lemon, sugar and a little water and hot pack as slices in a jar with the liquid from the cooking. We love it that way. I get my apples from lynds usually. Roma makes a pink sauce also.
yummmmmmyyy! I need to get more apples. I have applesauce in the freezer, but I need PINK applesauce!!!!!!
i love the pink color, but I don’t have a food mill, just a food processor. I assume that’s not an option, because we’d have bits of skin in our sauce, right?
btw, I also make apple juice at home in much the same way, just straining the solids and processing the hot liquid in hot jars for the pantry.
I think you could blend up the skins with the apples and it would be fine. Maybe a little more textured but certainly still tasty.
I have some of the vinegar in my cupboard right now, bought for $3/bottle. Not bad for local, homemade, and delicious!
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