I knew this was going to be a busy week in the kitchen. I bought two bags of apples at the roadside stand earlier this week. I thought they were Braeburn apples, but turns out they were McIntosh. In all actuality, I’m glad of that because I love a tart applesauce and that was my main intent with this batch.
I bought one of those little gadgets that peel, core, and slice your apples for you. You clamp it to the counter top, stick your apple on a rod with three prongs on the end to hold it in place, then turn a handle. As the apple moves nearer to the blade, the peel comes off in one long thin ribbon. It’s pretty neat, although it didn’t work quite as well as the one I used to have in my Colorado kitchen. Either they are making them cheaper or the apples themselves weren’t firm enough. I ended up not using the corer or slicer function preferring to quarter and trim the apples by hand with my favorite paring knife.
As I finished each apple, I placed them in a bowl of water with lemon juice added to keep them from turning brown. I placed about 3 cups of apples in my food processor with the steel blade and added about a half cup of water. I processed this to a soft consistency and added it to my large 23 quart canner…the only pan I had big enough to hold all the apples. After draining the apple slices, I added them to the canner along with 1c. of granulated sugar and 3T. of lemon juice. You need that extra acidity to safely preserve the applesauce in a water bath canner.
I cooked the apples till they started getting soft and then used a potato masher to break down the apples into sauce. I wasn’t quite getting the consistency I wanted, so I used my immersion blender to further break down the apples. I like my applesauce to have some small chunks in it so it looks homemade and not like something out of a baby food jar.
I filled my hot jars with the hot applesauce, leaving a one-half inch headspace, wiped the rim, then placed the lid and ring to just past finger tight. My water bath canner holds eight pints. Once they came to a boil, I started the timer and processed them for 20 minutes. When the time was up, I turned off the heat and removed the lid of the canner and let the jars rest for about 5-10 minutes before I removed them from the water and placed them on a clean towel to cool.
I had a little over a pint of applesauce left and I didn’t want to run the canner again for one jar. So, I added a little brown sugar, apple pie spice, and butter then cooked it down till it was getting pretty thick. I had a half recipe of pie dough left in the fridge from the tomato pie earlier in the week so I rolled it out, placed the sweetened applesauce in the middle and drew the edges of the crust up and over to form a simple galette. I baked it till golden brown at 375 degrees…about 40 minutes or so.
My memories of apples involves my grandma again. She had borrowed a large copper kettle and made a huge batch of apple butter one fall. I was very young and somehow my memory has us making it in the back yard over a fire, but I would not swear to that. I do know she used a big bag of cinnamon red hot candies in it for color and flavor, but they didn’t take into account the sugar content of the candy and it came out awfully sweet. Still, nothing ever went to waste on the farm and it was eaten with delight…most often by the spoonful right out of the jar.
As I labeled the grape jam from Thursday and the applesauce yesterday, I marveled at how beautiful the jars are…all lined up on our dining room table. We have shelves in the basement and all this work is going to be gorgeous once the jars are cleaned and lined up for winter storage. I have my ear to the ground…looking for an attractive primitive wooden cabinet for the dining room to store all these extra appliances I have accumulated over the last few months. I hate storing them downstairs because I use them fairly often. I prefer to have them a few steps away from the kitchen when I need them.
When all was done, Mr. FixIt and I drove to town, picked up a sandwich for supper, and ate it sitting on the tailgate of my pickup as we watched some locals fishing from the bank of the Little Kanawha River. It was a beautiful, productive day.
Today…I need to make Salisbury steaks and Italian meatballs for the freezer and work on the pie pumpkins. Another busy day ahead!
❤️
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”
Colossians 2:16 NIV