Making Applesauce

What do you do with a bunch of B grade apples from the local orchard?  Make applesauce of course!

I've been making and preserving applesauce for years now.  When I first started, I had a small bowl size food mill.  It works, but takes a LONG time and makes for a very sore shoulder, or at least it does when you make as much as I do.  A while back, I discovered a wonderful clamp-to-the-counter food mill that makes the job so much easier and faster.  I start by sectioning my just washed apples with a standard sectioning tool.  The slices go in the pot, the core in the compost.  I don't have to worry about skin or seeds.

I add about a cup of water to the pot and steam/cook the apples in a covered pot til very tender and falling apart, stirring often to keep the bottom from burning.

The soft cooked apples go in the hopper at the top, squished down with the plunger and turn the handle.  The skin and seeds come out the front and apple puree comes out the side into the bowl.  Voila!  Applesauce. 

I always use several varieties of apples.  The flavor is delicious that way and I seldom have to add any sweetener.  I do not add cinnamon or other spices.  We like it straight up.  And by cooking with the skin on, it is a pretty pink color.  This session yielded enough sauce for 28 pints of applesauce.  I pack it in freezer containers and we enjoy applesauce all winter and spring long.  Yummy!!  Hope you are cooking up something yummy for the holiday this week.  Enjoy.