Canned Applesauce
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We get a bushel or two of apples and do this along with apple pie filling every 3-4 years. It’s a delicious side dish with a wide variety of dinners.
Ingredients
- 1 bushel sweet apples
- water
- lemon juice
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- brown sugar
- 12-14 jars, bands and lids
Instructions
- Get 1 bushel sweet apples (Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Winesap, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Golden Delicious, etc and always use a mixture – never just one type). Another important tip at orchards is to ask for “seconds”, “culls” or “drops” – they work just fine for applesauce. You’ll get about 12 to 13 quarts of applesauce per bushel of apples. Or figure 3# per quart.
- Wash and cut up the apples with an apple corer/slicer, and put the slices in a large pot with about 2 cups of water. Put the lid on and the heat on high. When it gets really going, turn it to medium high until the apples are soft through and through.
- Allow the apples to cool a bit and then run them through a food mill to separate the flesh from the skins. Put the applesauce into a large pot and hold on a low simmer.
- In the last 5 minutes before filling jars, add the cinnamon and nutmeg starting with 2 Tbs cinnamon and 1/2 Tbs nutmeg and adding more to taste.
- If sugar is needed, start with 1 cup of brown sugar and add more as needed.
- The applesauce does not need any further cooking; just keep it hot until you are ready to can.
- Boil the lids and rings to sterilize them.
- Add 1 tsp lemon juice to each quart jar.
- Can in a hot water bath for 20 minutes, or oven can at 250 degrees for 25 minutes