Applesauce

There are some people who are not familiar with how easy it is to make applesauce. I am here to help! I typically use over fifty pounds of apples a year making applesauce. After several years, I finally started paying attention to the amounts of the ingredients that I was using. I use a variety of apples, sometimes in the same batch, but some of my favorites are Ida Reds, Cortlands, Macs and Crispins. A lot of people have their own personal specifications for how homemade applesauce should be with regards to sweetness, chunkiness and whether or not there is cinnamon. You can use what I have here as a jumping off point, then maybe tweak and play around with your next batch.

Sometimes I freeze the applesauce in zip-loc bags, and barely thawed sauce has become sort of a Thanksgiving tradition. However, this batch is getting processed in jars for easier gift giving at the holidays. (It is a hot item!)

I used about 30 large Cortland apples...

...and filled my 8 quart pot up to here...

I added 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, then poured 1 cup of water over the top.

Cover and cook over medium to medium low heat for about two hours. (Nothing much really happens in the first hour.) Check on it every now and then, and give a stir.

Whoah, a bit of a boil. Time to take the lid off.

We like our applesauce smooth, so after the apples have cooked down and gotten mushy, I finish it off with a hand held immersion blender.

(Just before blending. See how much it cooks down.)

I take my jars right out of the dishwasher to fill them.

Leave 1/2" headspace in the jars, put the lids and rings on, then put in gently boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Then put the jars on a towel to cool on the kitchen counter. Enjoy the smell of the kitchen and the sound of the lids sealing!

This batch made 8 pint sized jars, plus about a cup for us to put in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!