HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE

Use your freshly picked apples to make a guilt free treat!

There are some things we are so used to seeing in packaging, we never consider making it at home. I think applesauce is like that for a lot of people. I made my first batch of applesauce in cooking class in school; just a few, and a few more years ago. I always have a stock of fresh apples during apple season, because I love picking them so much. I am always ready to hit the orchard again for more. I wrote about finding serenity in an apple orchard, in our post Apple Picking Time. Once home, I gotta do something with them! Applesauce is a great way to use up a few apples, get creative and enjoy the fruits of my labor. 😋 Making your own applesauce is a heck of a lot more trouble than opening a store bought container. But homemade applesauce brings a whole different dimension to our all time favorite. And, it’s a treat you can feel good about eating. You can choose what apples you want it to taste like. You can add a host of sweeteners, both natural and refined. Apples pair well with so many of our favorite fall flavorings. You can make it silky smooth, or leave chunks of apples in it. In the batch made for this post, I didn’t use any refined sugars to sweeten it. I used maple syrup. I used golden delicious apples and empire apples. Both were at peak season when I picked. To bring some zing to the flavor, I used cinnamon and fresh ginger. I enjoy taking ingredients I have on hand, and experimenting with flavor combinations. Applesauce is the perfect pallet for my culinary exploration. This batch was very, very tasty. If you are looking for a quick and delicious, all natural apple dessert, we hope you will give making your own applesauce a try.

Preparing apples for cooking is the same for applesauce, as most apple recipes. You need to get the core and seeds out, peel the apple and slice or chop. Here we go. 👩‍🍳🍎🍏

Below, we are demonstrating the round tool that cuts the core out while cutting the apple into 8 large slices. Any time you are working with a round vegetable or fruit and you are going to be slicing downward, cut the bottom off by cutting it straight across, so you can place it (apple in this case) flat on the surface you are cutting on. It is more stable. It’s much safer than trying to balance and cut at the same time. Once the apple is flat on the surface, place the middle, round hole, over the area of the core, where the stem was. Once positioned, holding the tool by the handles, push straight down into the apple, to the bottom. The slices will fall away from the core. Pull the slices out, and cut the peel off with a paring knife.

Apples start turning brown soon after they are cut. It does not effect the flavor, and if you are just making a pie it doesn’t matter. But since I am making applesauce, and the color of the finished product may be tainted, I am going to put the peeled apple slices in cold water with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice added. The acid stops the browning. There is not enough lemon to distort the flavor, it just keeps the slices fresh. This technique of using an acid in cold water to retain freshness is referred to as “acidulating”. Vinegar can be added instead of lemon juice. I would be inclined to use vinegar when acidulating a vegetable that will be used in a savory dish. When acidulating with vinegar you can use white vinegar or cider vinegar. I would stay away from vinegars that have colors from other additives, like wine, or flavorings. Just use the plain stuff. Whether it is lemon or vinegar, you don’t need to get fancy. I keep bottled lemon juice on hand for this kind of thing. It lasts forever in the refrigerator. Did you know that you can make buttermilk from milk in no time, by adding lemon juice or vinegar? Yup, I am usually baking a sweet treat when I need buttermilk, so I most commonly use lemon. I use one tablespoon for each cup of milk. When the lemon juice is added, the milk will thicken and small soft curds form. If a baked goods recipe calls for buttermilk, you should not use regular milk without adding an acid. It is needed to interact with the leavening agent that is going to make your baked goods rise.

Shown below, is how to use the pointed, semi-round vegetable peeler/corer with the saw like teeth along the outside. Cut the bottom of the apple straight across, so it will sit flat on the cutting surface. Place the tool over the core area and push it down into the apple. Repeat cutting semi circular cuts around the stem area until the core can be pulled out. Finally, with the peeling side, peel the apple.

Or, as shown below, you can use a paring knife for the whole job. This is the way I do it. It is just easier for me. I cut the bottom straight across so it sits flat on the cutting surface. I take the stem off, if it is still on. And I then cut the apple in quarters. I cut out the core part from each of the quarters and then peel them. Done!

These are the ingredients I gathered for this batch of applesauce.

I am leaving the apples in large pieces. They will take a little longer to cook, but it’s only minutes. They cook quickly in any case. Feel free to slice them thinner or cut into smaller chunks to speed up the cooking time.

The maple syrup I had on hand is dark syrup. Real maple syrup, not the other stuff commonly found on grocery shelves. When you look at the label of those common imposters, you will note that it never, ever says it is maple syrup, because it isn’t. It is usually high fructose corn syrup, which is corn syrup in its most unhealthy state, vaguely flavored with a maple extract. There are all kinds of other additives. If you read the ingredients, you may never want to feed it to your family again. It is made to be sweeter than sweet. You would be better off melting some white sugar in water and pouring it on your pancakes. It would be heathier. Pure maple syrup is as natural as it gets. You don’t have to look too far to tell the difference, the price will tell the whole story. Real maple syrup is not cheap, but it is a bargain given what it takes to get it to you, in a bottle, on the grocery shelf. And it is among the healthiest natural sweeteners, right behind honey. When you buy maple syrup the label will tell you what color it is. There are basically 3 colors of maple syrup. Light/golden is the lightest color, then amber, and dark. The darker syrup is thicker with a deeper flavor. I prefer the dark syrup. It is wonderful for cooking. I use it as a sweetener in all sorts of recipes, and I use it on pancakes, waffles, french toast, oatmeal, well you get it. The different colors indicate what stage of the sap season, the sap was drawn from the tree. Early season sap, produces the lighter color and by the end of the short season, the darker sap is dripping from the tree. Sap season is in the early spring. In order for a maple tree to produce sap, it must have weather conditions of warm days and very cold nights. In northern New England that typically happens February to early March. Have you ever seen how sap is drawn from a maple tree? Coming from New England, I am familiar with maple syrup production. Of course, not everyone has maples native to their area, so many may not know the simplicity of producing maple syrup. Basically, you bore a hole in the tree trunk of a maple tree and “tap” a spout in. It is referred to as tapping the tree. Then, a bucket is hung under the spout to collect the sap that drips out. To make the sap into syrup, you simply empty the sap into a saucepan and boil it down until it is a thick syrup. It takes a whole lot of sap to make a little bit of syrup. Those in the business of maple syrup production, have very large vats to boil their sap in. Usually, the heat source is wood, burning under the vat. Most commonly this is all done in a small, cabin like building, referred to as a “sap house”. If you happen to come upon a sap house in the spring, you will know that they are boiling sap if there is thick smoke billowing out of the chimney on the roof. It is steam from the evaporation of the sap, as it is becoming syrup. Generally you are welcome to drop by and watch the process. It is pretty boring to sit in those little cabins, day after day, feeding wood to the fire, so the occasional drop in guest is rarely turned away. There are no additives or preservatives. If it is pure maple syrup; It doesn’t need either.

In this batch, I used cider as the steaming liquid. It will boost the apple flavor a bit, and add some sweetening. I would usually use water, but I had some freshly pressed cider I picked up at the apple farm. I also added some fresh ginger and cinnamon. You don’t need to add any flavorings. The apples can be enough flavor on their own. You can add a touch of vanilla to accentuate the apple flavor. You could even add a smidge of spiced rum as a flavoring. You will be boiling the apples down, so the alcohol in the vanilla or rum will evaporate out. The possibilities are boundless. As always, the only rule of thumb is to use ingredients you like! Then you know you are going to enjoy the finished product.

Time to make the Applesauce

Use a large saucepan and cook on medium high heat.

Add a steaming liquid to a saucepan (in this case I used 3/4 cup cider). I am calling it a steaming liquid, even though we are not using a steaming basket, because I am only using a small amount of liquid to cook down the apples. As they cook, the apples are going to release their own juice, which flavors the sauce. That’s why you start with only a small amount of liquid. You don’t want to water down the true apple taste. Once the liquid has started to steam, add the apples.

Stir the apples frequently to make sure they are getting equally cooked down, and there is still enough steaming liquid in the pan to prevent the apples from sticking to the bottom. If your liquid has evaporated to the extent you are worrying about sticking, just add a little more water or whatever liquid you are steaming with. When the apples have gotten really soft, start mashing them as the continue to cook, and add the sweeteners and flavorings. Stop mashing when you reach your desired consistency. If you have excess moisture at that point, get the applesauce to a slow boil and stir continually as the liquid evaporates. Take the applesauce off the heat when it is the thickness you want.

Done!

While still warm, I spooned out my first dish of homemade applesauce. I topped it with a little extra maple syrup and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Too good for words!

And just when I thought it couldn’t get better… with some leftover applesauce… I made a….

Next day Sundae