Homemade Apple Sauce

I love this time of year. Fall is my all time favorite season. I love the crisp morning air and the warm afternoons. I love the colors and the smells and all the food. Last weekend, we went apple picking with the family, so I knew this week would be full of preserving all the apples into yumminess that will last us all year long.

First thing I did was make my homemade apple sauce. I don't do anything fancy to it. I don't add any sugar or cinnamon or anything. Just apples and a little water.

I saw on Pinterest (love this site) that if you fill your sink up with cold water, add 1 cup of vinegar and add your apples, it will make them all sparkly and clean. I decided to try it.

Ya, it did not do what it said it would do. That cloudy film was still on the apples. The picture above the sink one was after they were "cleaned". Thankfully the apples didn't smell or taste like vinegar.

I filled up the other side of my double sink with cold water and added lemon juice to it. As I peeled the apples, I put them in this lemon water to help prevent the apples from turning brown. Honestly, if they turn a little brown, I don't care. It makes the apple sauce a little darker color but doesn't affect the taste.

I peeled and cored my apples using my handy dandy peeler corer thingy. Makes fast easy work of the apples. I filled two large pots about 2/3 full of apples slices and added 4 cups of water to each pot.

Cook the apples until they are smooshy and slightly transparent. Because the apples are sliced so thin, this does not take a long time at all. Don't boil, but let it simmer.

Once the apples are cooked, I used my stick blender (best tool ever!) to make the sauce smooth. You can also use a potato smasher if you don't have a stick blender. The sauce is more lumpy with the potato smasher. I like my sauce smooth.

I continue to cook off the water until it is the thickness that I like. Then it is time to can it up. While the sauce is cooking off the water, I am getting my jars and water bath canner water ready. By the time the water in the canner is ready and the jars are sterilized, the sauce is usually done or pretty close to it.

Fill your jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space, processing 20 minutes for both quarts and pints. Wash the jars once all cooled and then put away or enjoy.

I usually add some sugar and cinnamon to my serving of sauce. Sometimes I don't want anything added. That is why I didn't add anything to the apples while it was cooking.



Shared with More The Merrier Monday