A few weeks ago, we picked our apples.
One tree for us...
One tree to the food bank.
(they now take fresh produce if you didn't know)
A lot of you emailed me about making apple sauce, so here we go.
It's so easy, and it's not so much a recipe...more of a step by step, do this/do that, add your own spin and there you go!
You have two options - and I've done both.
1. Peel all your apples and cut out the core.
Pro - no need to spend money on a food mill.
Con - takes soooo long.
2. Buy a food mill, peel nothing, cut out nothing.
Pro - no peeling or coring, just chop it rough and dump it in.
Pro - you can use the food mill for other things.
Con - you may prefer a chunky style sauce
Con - you have to buy a food mill.
I have a food mill as I hate to peel apples. A few yes, but 67 - no.
So, I chop off the tops and bottoms.
As they are from our tree, I also chop off anything that may appear unsightly!
(As if I have any of that business going on)
And now, a small preach from the organic farmer:
Organic apples are best to use as they are now number 1 on the dirty dozen list of pesticide covered fruits.
Thank you for your time, carry on...
dump them all into a large pot...
...or three!
We had a lot of apples on one small tree.
I added about 7 cups of water to each pot, you can also add apple juice instead of water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
*Intermission*
I'm going through a huge quinoa kick right now.
Back to the sauce...
Pop in and give it a stir often.
It doesn't take long to break down, but it does vary depending on your apple variety.
These apples took about 25 minutes to turn to mush.
Very thick mush!
Now, if you pre-peeled your apples, then you can skip this bit.
If you bought a food mill, then just ladle the hot sauce into the mill and work it though.
All the bits, skin and seeds will stay in the food mill.
Lovely hot apple sauce comes out the bottom.
This is where you can freelance it.
Add some sugar - but only if you like - you don't have to add anything.
We add enough sugar to take the bite off as I have a toddler who will freak if it's sour.
Add a bit at a time, stir it in and taste it.
If you are happy, then it's perfect!
You can add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves - whatever you like.
It's entirely up to you and your taste buds.
Do some plain and some with cinnamon.
I've also made Blause with a friend last year - apples and blueberries cooked together.
It was divine!
You can now process it in jars, or, even easier - freeze it in ziplock bags or freezer containers.
Do small rations like 1/2 a cup or one cup so it doesn't go to waste if you don't eat it all up
I canned half and froze the other half.
