Today I finally tackled making applesauce from the apples that were picked, oh, awhile ago. Jackson has snitched a few, but I have still plenty to work with. I only had enough canning lids for two full canners (14 quarts) which used less than half the apples, so I also pureed enough apples to start a crockpot full of apple butter. Mmm, the house is going to smell yummy for days!Everyone (who cans) has a preferred method. I've tried several of them, and always come back to this: I wash, core and remove bad spots from the apples, throw them in my blender with just enough water to get things moving, then pour into clean jars and process in a hot water bath. Once in awhile I'll do some jars with cinnamon, but nothing else. I don't know if I end up with a more nutritious product or not, but leaving the skins on and not cooking the apples before canning makes me think I do. :-)
The raw pulp is rather pretty in the jars, but as you can see from the top photo, the bits of peel basically disappear during processing. They do add a rosy hue to the sauce, though.The applesauce joins tomatoes, condensed tomato soup, and three varieties of grape juice canned this year, as well as cherries, prunes, preserves and some other miscellaneous foodstuffs canned previously. (Some things that we don't eat as often I tend to put up in cycles.) In the freezer are peaches, berries, and pear cider, as well as dried cherries, prunes, Asian pears, and peach leather - along with various things I buy in bulk or on sale and store there until needed. I had someone ask me once, when he saw our chest freezer, "What do vegetarians need a freezer for?" I assured him it was quite full!
That's it for now from . . .
4 comments:
Your applesauce looks great! Golly, I remember, years ago, when I canned almost everything we ate! Love those pears we canned that you get in Medford, Talent and Pheonix area. We still get some from friends and relatives in that area. But to can now for the 2 of us is a lot of work and it will last for ever!! I would still can pie cherry's if I could get my hands on them, love those cherry pies! I don't think I cooked much of anything before putting in my water bath. I always did jam or jelly with wax on the top so it wouldn't get over cooked. It was when I used to can that they came out with no cook raspberry and starwberry jams. That tells you how long it's been :))
I love applesauce....just plain applesauce. I've never done it in a blender but sure seems the easy way and no loss of vitamins or good stuff :) A bowl of warm appleasauce and a hot muffin is my breakfast of choice on a cold winter morning.
Yumm for applesause! We have a small tree and ate or gave all our apples to friends and the local Magpies ate the fallen apples. At least they were all used.
Oh, what a great idea, Michelle. I never heard of pureeing in the blender and putting up that way! My haralson apples are still waiting for canning, so I think I'll try it. And apple butter in the crockpot, what a great idea! My recipe has vinegar in it, and I love it the most!
Thanks for the ideas.
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