How to make delicious and simple applesauce

    I picked up a 15 pound box of windfall apples from an orchard in October. While the apples were a little blemished, they were good enough for applesauce. In this post I will show how to make two quarts of freezer applesauce; from apples to freezer in an hour.

                                                Job Overview 

• Kitchen utensils and appliances: paring knife, dutch oven, hand masher, large spoon, ladle, food processor, two cups with pouring spout, cookie sheet, oven, freezer. 
• Materials: quart freezer bags (2)
• Ingredients: 5 pounds of apples, 1/2 cup water..
• Cost of materials: 15 lbs of apples: $5. cost of a quart as prepared: $2.13
• Store cost:  
• Estimated time: 1 hour   

1) Measure out 2900g  (6.4lb) of apples. This accounts for peel waste of about 30%. After cooking loss and waste the result should be two 950g freezer bags of sauce. This is just a guideline. A little more or a bit less is a personal matter.

2) Wash, core and peel the apples. Doing it by hand takes about 1/2 hour with a paring knife.

Paring and peeling took me half an hour

3) Place the apples into a dutch oven and add 1/2 cup (120g) of water.

4) Place the pan on the stove top at medium to medium high heat and keep the apples moving. As they warm up and start to boil, bring down the heat to prevent scorching.

5) After about 5 minutes, break out the masher and start to push down on the softening apples. Continue with this until there are no more large lumps of apple, about 10 minutes.

6) Pour a couple of cups of the steaming mashed apples into the food processor and set it to chop. Continue for 30-45 seconds, depending on how coarse or fine a sauce is preferred.

7) Prepare a quart freezer bag for filling. I find it works well to place the bag in a large measuring cup and prop it open. Use another measuring cup to fill the bag. I use a scale and fill to 950g. Just filling the bags will work also. I just like two nearly identical bags of applesauce.

8) Work the air bubbles out of the bag by gently sort of kneading the warm sauce from bottom to top.

9) Place on the cookie sheet, do a final check for air and seal the zipper. The sauce should be right up against the zipper to keep air out.

10) Repeat bagging the second quart of sauce and place both bags flat on the cookie sheet.

With the air pushed out it's ready for freezing

11) Place in the freezer. Remove cookie sheet when they are frozen and place bags in a good place for long term storage.

12) Remove when the craving for great applesauce strikes, thaw in the refrigerator for a couple of days and then enjoy some great home-made applesauce!
         
                This one works well                                         A good buy