Applesauce

Welcome to Day 2 of the canning blitz! Did you read about dilly beans yesterday??

Today is all about apples! I decided to buy a bushel of apples. Do you know how much a bushel of apples is? It's forty pounds. Forty pounds of apples. When Patrick came home and saw forty pounds of apples acquired by his wife he slowly backed away from the kitchen and turned to run in the opposite direction! No worries; I enjoyed making my way through a bushel of apples!

I canned two batches of applesauce, two batches of apple butter, and tried my hand at an apple-maple jam. There was also an apple crisp! Today we're sharing the applesauce recipe on the blog. The apple butter and apple-maple jam will make an appearance at the end of the week. Keep in mind that these canning recipes are developed for canning and preservation but there's no rule that they have to be canned. You can make the recipes and keep them in your refrigerator and use immediately.

Applesauce from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving (2012)

Ingredients
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds apples per quart
water
sugar (optional)

Directions
Wash apples; drain. Core, peel, and quarter apples.

Cook apples until soft in a large covered saucepot with just enough water to prevent sticking.

Puree using a food processor or food mill. Return apple pulp to saucepot. Add 1/4 cup sugar per pound of apples or to taste, if desired. Bring applesauce to a boil, stirring to prevent sticking. Maintain temperature at a boil while filling jars. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Variation: Spiced applesauce can be made by adding ground spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice, to the sauce during the last 5 minutes of cooking. I also cooked the apples with two cinnamon sticks and removed before pureeing. 
   For a chunky sauce, coarsely crush half of the cooked apples; process remaining apples through a food processor or food mill. Combine crushed and sauced apple mixtures; continue as directed above. I made two batches. The first was chunkier and I did not use the food processor. For the second batch I used the food processor and greatly preferred this consistency for the applesauce.