Simply a Snap Applesauce!

Ah, September.....

Arguably my very favorite month of the year.

September means the leaves begin to change....

the harvest begins to stack up in beautiful jars in the pantry....

I can sit on the deck with a steaming cup of coffee and a long sleeve shirt....

the rows of corn grow pale and golden across the fields...

and the apples begin to come in.

And this week, to celebrate the beginning of September, we are designating it

I am so excited to share all my ideas this week with you, from recipes, to crafts, to just plain soaking up the first week of September. Today I decided to start with one of the simplest recipes in my recipe box...

homemade applesauce.

Did you know that applesauce was something that every housewife knew how to make? Not only was it a household staple, but it was an important way to keep things from going bad in a house that waste was not tolerated, and could not be afforded. Apples were harvested in the fall, and stored until the following year.

Back then, 60-100 years ago and before, we had a large variety of apples beyond what we have now....but they were not bred for long stays in lighted grocery shelves, or bumpy trips across hundreds or thousands of miles to those stores.....

They were meant to be picked carefully off the trees, loaded gently in the back of the wagon or into bushel baskets, and carried home to be put just as carefully into the cellar in apple bins. Each month the bins were sorted through, and any apples that had bruises or markings on them were sorted out, keeping the rest sweet and sound.......and those bruised apples were carted upstairs to make pies, or, you guessed it, applesauce.

Now I don't know about your household, but my family LOVES applesauce. I love to bake with it, and eat it straight out of the pan when we are making it. My family fights over who gets the last spoonful from the jar of the cinnamon applesauce I make, or the last fingerfull from the pan...we really , really like it.

So, in an effort to create the same sort of addiction with your family that exists in mine, I want to share my super simple, absolutely delicious applesauce recipe with you....

I hope you enjoy it.

Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

Come back tomorrow for a fantastic tutorial on how to make crabapple jelly and juice using those crabapples that are abundant this time of year....as well as a delicious recipe to use them in! :)

Simply a Snap Applesauce

(A Welcoming House Exclusive Recipe)

(I use a crockpot for cooking down my apples but you can certainly do this recipe in a stock pot as long as you stir as it cooks down)

Peel and Core 2 ice cream buckets of apples of your choice. Mixing tart and super sweet varieties make the very best applesauce, but this recipe will make great applesauce no matter what. While you are peeling and coring them, put the finished apples into water that has 1 tsp Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid) into water that you swirl them in. This keeps them from browning. 

Save the peels and the cores, because I will teach you how to make something else from them later this week.

Once you have all your apples finished, cut them into eighths, 

and place in a crockpot. 

Put in two cups of water, and lock lid on. 

Place crockpot on low, and let cook for 6 hours. No need to stir. 

After 6 hours, remove lid, and choose one of the two following options:

For chunky applesauce, mash with a handheld potato masher until desired chunkiness.

For smoother applesauce, use a stick blender, and pulse up to ten times, stirring as well, to get your desired consistency.

At this point, add one cup of sugar or to taste for your applesauce.

Ladle into hot jars, and process in a water bath (I use my large soup pot and do 9 pints at a time), processing them for twenty minutes for pints, twenty-five minutes for quarts.

Now, here are some super simple variations you can add to change up the type of applesauce you make.

Zesty Cinnamon: add one cup red hots about 4 hours into the cooking, stir, and sweeten if needed. Makes a brilliant pink applesauce that is spicy and sweet....something a lot of kids love.

Regular Cinnamon Applesauce: add one cinnamon stick to the apple slices when you started, and allow to cook with the sauce.

Vanilla Applesauce: add two vanilla beans, opened, into the applesauce while it cooks down the last couple hours.

Grams' Applesauce: add one cup sucanat or brown sugar while sweetening at the end, and be sure that you use Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples as your applesauce base.

Strawberry Applesauce: add two cups strawberries (we freeze ours and then use them for this) to the apple slices when filling the crockpot. Makes a beautiful pink applesauce with red flecks, and a very delicious taste. You can actually use any type of berry that you really like, such as mulberries (pinkish purple applesauce) or raspberries (end up a light light pink).

Shared with Upside Down Kids Apple Link up,