It's been an entire week since I have had time to do any canning, and the apples have been piling up! We still had half of what we picked during our apple picking outing, and then 3 half-peck bags from the farm share. Since my sister-in-law decided they were basically done with the share, I figured I would take their share of the apples and make applesauce for them, so it's all ready for them whenever they want it. That's today's task.
First I used up the apple picking apples making chunky applesauce. If you boil apples with just a little water, they break down. But, if you add the sugar when they're boiling, they stay chunky. 17 apples were peeled, chopped, and boiled with 2 c. of water and 1.5 c. of white sugar. After it was the right consistency, I added 2 t. of cinnamon and ended up with 3 quarts of not-too-sweet chunky applesauce.
The next batch was going to be another pink-smooth batch, so out came the food mill. I chopped up the apples and have boiled them with a little water, 9 apples at a time, for 3 batches, which get run through the food mill and then put into one large pot. I added just about 3 c. of sugar, and ended up with 5.5 quarts. I'll have to process in two batches since the canner can only hold 7 quarts!
When it comes to apples, I've only ever canned my sliced spiced apples...until your blog inspired me to branch out in my little canning world and try new things.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally bought a 10 lb bag of McIntosh apples for my spiced slices and quickly realized they were too soft and would turn to mush, instead of slices. So, I broadened my horizens (inspired by you, thank you very much) and looked online for a yummy applesauce recipe. I found a STRAWBERRY applesauce recipe and it was simply and undeniably the best applesauce I've ever tasted! I don't have a food mill, so it was a chunky sauce. It called for a dash of allspice along with a bunch of the strawberries I had picked/froze this summer.
So, just when I thought I was done canning for the season, I MUST MUST MUST go and get more apples to make more strawberry applesauce!
You've been quite an inspiration to me this fall and my canning shelves downstairs prove it!
Thanks Donna!
Tess