Homemade Applesauce
It’s been a wonderful apple season here at my farm! This year’s harvest has yielded more than 60 quarts of fresh cider, and now I'm putting more delicious apples to good use by making homemade applesauce.
I have many apple trees throughout my property, including some original to the farm that continue to produce flavorful fruit, espaliered trees I planted shortly after moving here, and, of course, the many varieties growing in my orchard. Yesterday, my housekeeper Enma began preparing batches of fresh, naturally sweet applesauce.
Enjoy these photos and the easy process for making your own.
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- Once fall arrives, it’s time to harvest the crisp, juicy apples from the hundreds of trees throughout my farm. We pick many off the ground along with those hanging from the branches.
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- Enma starts picking the apples for the applesauce. A mix of tart and sweet varieties will do nicely.
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- The apples used don’t have to look pristine, but they should be free from spoilage, moderately firm — not too hard and not too soft or mealy — so they break down smoothly.
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- Enma washes the selected apples thoroughly with cold water.
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- She cuts each apple in half.
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- Next, she cuts them in quarters.
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- Here she removes any seeds she sees. This is important because seeds are tannic and cooking with them will impart a bitter taste. Enma leaves the skins on them. Cooking the apples with their skins saves time and provides a nice color to the sauce.
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- All the discarded pieces will go straight to my chickens – they love pecking at the sweet fruits.
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- Enma places the apple pieces directly into a heavy-bottomed pot. Apples, Malus domestica, are low in calories, rich in dietary fiber and full of antioxidants.
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- She adds the juice of half a lemon for every dozen or so apples. Lemon juice helps keep the apples from browning, because it is full of ascorbic acid and has a low pH level. It also helps bring out the color from the skins.
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- Next, Enma also adds about a cup of water before cooking.
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- And look who’s watching – Luna Muna and her daughter, Half Moon. Good girls.
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- She sets the pot over medium to high heat just until they start to cook. And, guess what? That is all you need – no sugar at all. The apples will start to cook right away.
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- Within minutes, they start to soften.
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- Occasionally, Enma stirs the apples with a wooden spoon to prevent burning.
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- Here’s another pot that has been cooking for a bit longer. The process doesn’t take long – the skins fall off after about half an hour to 45-minutes.
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- The apples in this pot are all cooked down.
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- The apples are scooped in small batches into this stainless steel multi purpose food mill ricer with strainer over a bowl.
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- Enma places a couple of ladles full of apples into the hopper and turns the handle that presses them through small holes to create a light, lump‑free sauce, leaving the skins.
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- And, what you end up with is pure, naturally sweet and delicious applesauce.
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- Enma scrapes any bits off the bottom of the mill.
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- And look how much sauce is made. And there are still so many more apples to go!
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- Once done, the sauce is left to cool on the counter before going into the refrigerator. Applesauce is a versatile ingredient that works in baking, breakfasts, savory dishes, and even as a healthy substitute for oil, butter, or eggs, making it useful far beyond snacking.
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