Last Monday, D and I headed to Weaver's Orchard in Morgantown, Pennsylvania to do some apple-picking. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating, so in lieu of picking apples in the rain, we opted to purchase a pre-picked half-bushel of Jonamac apple seconds instead -- perfect for sauce making. I've always been a fan of homemade applesauce -- when I was little, we had a few apple trees in our backyard, and batches of homemade sauce were made from the bounty in the fall. The sauce was preserved by freezing; I think up until a fairly recent power outage (and one move later), my parents still had at least one Tupperware container of that homemade applesauce in the freezer.
Because we had such a large amount of apples, we cooked up half the applesauce in a slow-cooker, and the other half in a large stockpot on the stove. The stovetop applesauce cooked up faster than the batch in the slow cooker, but since we were planning to can the sauce on a different day, it didn't matter much. We finally got around the canning the sauce this Saturday, after bringing both batches of sauce back to a boil. I've already cracked into one quart -- the applesauce is delicious -- slightly sweet with a subtle cinnamon flavor. Only seven more jars to go!
Large Batch Applesauce (printer-friendly version)
makes about 8 quarts
1/2 bushel Jonamac apples (about 42 small apples), washed, cored, peeled (keep the peels), and sliced
2 C hot water
juice from six lemons
6 T brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1. Wash the apples. Core, peel, and slice each apple.
2. Save the peels and puree them in a food processor.
3. Place the diced apples in a 4 qt slow cooker bowl or large stock pot. Add in the pureed peels.
4. Pour in the water and lemon juice.
5. Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon sticks. (Or season to your preference.)
6. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If cooking on the stove, set the temperature to low, and bring the sauce to a simmer.
7. Stir every half hour or so.
8. Once the applesauce has come to a consistency that you prefer (the stovetop sauce took about 2-3 hours; the slow cooker took about 4-6 hours), add any additional seasoning if necessary, and then you are ready to can!
You can find the steps for boiling water canning here. Use these guidelines for determining your processing time (here in Philadelphia we processed the quarts for 20 minutes, given that we live at an elevation of less than 1000 feet).
makes about 8 quarts
1/2 bushel Jonamac apples (about 42 small apples), washed, cored, peeled (keep the peels), and sliced
2 C hot water
juice from six lemons
6 T brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1. Wash the apples. Core, peel, and slice each apple.
2. Save the peels and puree them in a food processor.
3. Place the diced apples in a 4 qt slow cooker bowl or large stock pot. Add in the pureed peels.
4. Pour in the water and lemon juice.
5. Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon sticks. (Or season to your preference.)
6. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If cooking on the stove, set the temperature to low, and bring the sauce to a simmer.
7. Stir every half hour or so.
8. Once the applesauce has come to a consistency that you prefer (the stovetop sauce took about 2-3 hours; the slow cooker took about 4-6 hours), add any additional seasoning if necessary, and then you are ready to can!
You can find the steps for boiling water canning here. Use these guidelines for determining your processing time (here in Philadelphia we processed the quarts for 20 minutes, given that we live at an elevation of less than 1000 feet).
No comments:
Post a Comment