Homemade Applesauce

It's fall in the South and that can only mean one thing! It's apple time!

Only one hour away from the South's greatest apple orchards, each year we take a day and go up to the mountains to get apples. This year we came home with a bushel of yellow delicious and a half peck of granny smith's. I intend to use the granny smiths for various recipes. They keep a long time and will last the winter through. However, the yellow delicious are a bit more perishable and thus need to either be eaten, canned, or dried.

And that is what we did. We ate lots- gave away lots, dried a few, and made applesauce with the rest.

Here is the process of making homemade applesauce.

Step 1. Wash and peel your apples. I do not have one of those fancy apple peelers (although it is now on my Christmas wish list) and did by hand.

Step 1: Wash and peel your apples

Step 2: Core your apples, cut them up into pieces, and put them in a deep stock pot. I add a little ascorbic acid to prevent browning and as a preservative. Add about 1/2 to 1 cup of apple cider or water (more or less may be needed depending upon your batch size).

Step 2: Cut up your apples into small pieces

Step 3: Cook on medium-low heat for approximately 1 hour. (Again, more or less time may be needed depending upon your batch size.) Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Step 3: Cook until soft. You can see the pot contents have been reduced to almost half.

Step 4: Can in sterilized jars in a water bath or pressure canner. Here is a link to the site I reference most often when canning anything.

It's just that simple. If you want a smoother applesauce, use a food processor after coring and cutting up the apples. There is no need to add sugar to this recipe. If you use the right kind of apples, your applesauce will be naturally sweet.

I used approximately 16-20 apples in this batch and ended up with 1 quart and 3 pints of applesauce. My 20 month old eats it like it's going out of style! She loves it! And- no artificial preservatives (ascorbic acid is a naturally occurring substance) and I know EXACTLY where it came from!

Canned pint of applesauce