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'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/