Applesauce Recipe

[helwen]

According to the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook:

1/2 cup boiling water
2 pounds cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar

1. In 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat first 4 ingredients to boiling.
2. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 8-10 minutes until the apples are tender for chunky applesauce, 12 to 15 minutes for smoother applesauce. During last minutes of cooking time, stir sugar into applesauce mixture.

***
Now, having typed this, I have to tell you what I actually did (but the above gives you the general guidelines for making applesauce).

1. Some of the apples still had bits of peel on them.
2. I didn't boil the water first, I just put it in.
3. I didn't save the sugar for last.

4. I apparently didn't use ground cloves the last few times I've made applesauce because the only ones we seem to have are whole, so fitzw and I are guessing that I actually used ground nutmeg (hey, it's a mulled cider ingredient....)

5. I threw in the apples and water first, then the spices and sugar and stirred them together. I may have brought it to boiling first before turning down the heat, but it would have likely been only a gentle boil, not a rolling boil.

6. Because the peels need a bit longer to cook, I definitely simmered for longer than 12-15 minutes. Since I don't like my applesauce watery, it tends to cook for a while, and I try to mash it from time to time.

My applesauce may perhaps be closer to being apple butter than apple sauce, I suspect. The last time I made "applesauce" it was definitely more like the latter, because I thought I'd remembered the proportions correctly and was wrong and had added too much water. So I let it cook down a bit, then threw in some more apples (no peel with the later additions, since I wasn't sure how long I'd be cooking), and more of the other stuff, until it looked right. Probably cooked that particular batch for an hour+.

Today I'm making another batch and it's been cooking for at least an hour and will likely stay on heat for another hour at the rate it's going. We're trying out using the woodstove, and have the pot on an iron trivet. So it's hot but never reached boil. I'm not concerned about how long it's taking since we're using the stove for heating the apartment so it would be "on" anyway, and periodically checking to see how it's doing.

Comments

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

The Michelle version of applesauce is simpler, methinks:

Apples, cored, but skins on

Cook until mushy.

Puree through a food mill, which removes the skins but keeps all the pectin, etc.

Eat.

No sugar, no spices, but EVERYTHING nice! I usually boiling-water-bath can it for 10 minutes, and it stores for ages in the cellar.

Either way, ENJOY!

[pezgirl247.livejournal.com]

my da made applesauce from the apples i brought home from yule as well. i think he peeled and cored them, mashed them and added cinnamon and sugar. i slept through the process. the end result is tasty, though. :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Simpler in some ways, yes. But I'm not fond of cleaning the food mill, so I tend to avoid it except when working with tomatoes.

Sounds good though!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

:) Yup, we like it! We just added a bit of some leftover sauce (previous batch) to our oatmeal this morning. Yum!

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

Hm, I wonder if you have different sort of food mill than mine? It's pretty easy to clean. Plus I suspect your chickens would LOVE the remaining apple skin bits. Anyhoo - enjoy your applesauce! It's delicious, and makes the house smell just loverly.

[harpnfiddle.livejournal.com]

I make it like the first person above. whole apples in water boiled until soft. Then put thru the Victorio strainer. applesauce comes out the shoot and the cores and peels come out the end. Chickens do indeed love it. I would then season the sauce and cook on low for a while - but no need to boil off a ton of water, because I didn't need to keep the boiling water as it had very little of the apple flavor. Back in the day, I canned as well as froze a bunch. I learned how to do this the year my family got permission to get the drops at the fruit farm in town (farm workers didn't show up in time). One half of the garage was filled with baskets of apples.