I've featured homemade jams, breads, and granola bars... now it's time for the wonderful flavors of fall with Homemade Applesauce!

My friend, A, and I went apple picking this weekend and stocked up. We ended up picking two full bags, which was about 30 lbs!



What can you do with that many apples besides make apple sauce? (and maybe a pie or two...)

First you need to wash the apples, which we did in the sink. You can get more clean that way, and faster too - just make sure your sink is clean and washed out from the last time you rinsed chicken... (::shudder::)

Then you need to chop the apples in to semi-small pieces. You can leave the skin on like we did, or peel it. I find that leaving the skin on makes the sauce more flavorful. You will be removing it before canning so its alright for this step. The size we found worked best was 16ths: cut an apple in fourths then quarter that again. It's a fairly easy process once you get going.

After they are chopped up place them in a large pot with a little bit of water (maybe a cup, or even less) and bring to a boil. The apples will soften and reduce down.

Once they are sufficiently soft you need to mash them and remove the skins. You can do this with a strainer, or with a food mill. A food mill is definitely the easier way to go. Luckily A has one, and she brought it along.

We used the largest grating which lead to something in between smooth and chunky sauce.

After the skins have been removed and the sauce is pureed more, put it back on the stove and bring to a full boil again for a good 3 minutes. You need to make sure it boils long enough to kill any bad germs. This is where you add the spices you want. We added cinnamon and nutmeg to taste, and would have added a few cloves but I was out of them.

Finally you ladle the hot sauce into already cleaned and sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/2" headroom. Tightly screw on a cap, and place in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. You don't need to add any additional acid, since apples have enough by themselves. (If you don't believe me check the Ball Canning and Home Preserving Handbook - it's by the jar makers themselves)

If you have any extra (which we did) you can refrigerate it and enjoy it right away.

It's a bit time consuming, but not at all difficult, and very worth the yummy results. From our 30 lbs we got 18 pints of sauce - more than enough to split and last all winter. I love fall flavors.

And as a final note, I leave you with a photo of Bernadette's children. Bernadette is the squirrel with the strange tail that moved into the tree outside our house. She was originally Bernard, but then we saw two babies poking their heads out to explore, and realized she was a girl. They are adorable as they try to get the courage to venture outside the tree while Mom watches and chases them back. Here are the babies trying to get a view of our cooking.