Applesauce

Bowsnbucks

5 year old buck +
Figured I'd start a thread on making home made applesauce. Someone else mentioned it on another thread here, so since many of us are growing apples & crab apples, let's hear what you cook and how you go about it.

I'll start - I usually use 3 or 4 kinds of apples in my sauce. This year's batch is a mix of Goldrush, Crimson Topaz, Winesap, and Autumn Crisp. After washing them, I get rid of stems, then cut the apples into quarters for core removal. I then cut each quarter in half to shorten cooking time. I leave the skins on and toss them into a BIG stockpot, add about 1/3 cup of water to make steam and start the apples cooking. I cook slowly on a low gas flame, with the lid on, just enough heat to keep a little simmer going. When soft, I ladle the soft apples - skins and all - into one of those aluminum cone-shaped things that come with a tapered wooden spindle for pressing the apple mush through the little holes in the metal cone. The cone-strainer is placed inside another big pot to catch the applesauce. The skins will add flavor, fiber, and some color to the sauce, but they collect on the inside of the aluminum cone to be removed between loads of apples. Depending on taste, my wife and I usually don't add sugar, so we get pure apple taste. This year's mix was great without adding sugar - LOTS of flavor!!! We freeze a bunch and eat some fresh.

Hoping to read other guys' methods and apple / crab combinations/
 
I wash apples and slice into 8 sections with an apple-corer/cutter and heat in a large electric roaster. I usually have 2 or three roasters going at once because this is the bottleneck of the process.
I use a motorized Victorio VKP250 Food Strainer. The motorized strainer separates all the seeds and peals in one easy step. I made 70 quarts in one day. The motorized strainer makes sauce very fast and easy. Before I bought the motor for it I used the hand crank. I took easily 4X as long to strain. With the motor its a one-man operation. Hand-crankig is so slow and monotonous... unless you have several children to take turns. They get bored too.
I use sweet apples (Golden Del., Shizuka, Golden Russett, Macoun, Cortland) so I don't have to add sugar.
 
I chop up the apples pretty small or run them through a Little Oscar. I cook them with a little ginger for a side dish with fatty pork dishes, or I add a tiny bit of spices for a dessert called "veiled farmgirls."
 
You guys make it too much work. Pick Chestnut Crabs, Dolgo, or Trailman Crab. Rinse and pull the stems off, then cook with a small amount of water.

Then run them through a food processor like this.

Crabs make the best apple sauce. We don’t add sugar.
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If I add a few bigger apples, I do quarter them. I don’t remove seeds or the skin.


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If I remember right the last time I did it - picked, washed, cored them with that hand corer slicer ... powered food strainer on the kitchen aid, taste and adjust for sugar or spice if need and - straight into jars and into the pressure cooker and done....

Better than store bought any day!
 
Crabs make the best apple sauce. We don’t add sugar.
I can't wait until we have enough of a crop to add crabs to our sauce. Dolgo's taste great right off the tree.
 
Gonna look into that one!!! The coring / seeding is my biggest time-waster.

Use crabs and don’t core or seed.


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Use crabs and don’t core or seed.
With smaller crabs, I won't core or seed either!!! I'll use a Foley food mill like you do. My fingers aren't that patient anymore to fuss with small stuff like crab seeds!!! :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: Bigger apples aren't bad.
 
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I suspect this is Trailman sauce from the date, color, and taste. Trailman had a great crop and then shortly after This date we had two hail storms.

We used one of those devices that peals, cores, and slices to make some apple pie mix for the freezer. For larger apples, that device would work for sauce.

We seldom use larger apples for sauce as they lack the flavor of the crabs.


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This fall will be my first year making apple sauce. Mostly Honey Crisp, Liberty, Cortland, Empire, and Golden Russet. May throw in some Franklin Cider and Chestnut crab. Bought the following food mill to try canning apple and tomato sauce.
 

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