Homemade Applesauce

Last Sunday, Justin and I went to the farm to pick some apples.  Justin picked up apples off the ground and fed them to the horses.  My Dad lifted my Mom and I up in the bucket part of the loader to pick apples up high in the tree.  It seemed like the biggest apples were toward the top of the tree.  I took home a 5-gallon bucket of apples to turn into something.

This bucket was full of apples when I started.

 I decided that first I would make applesauce.  I found a recipe online for crock pot applesauce that you can either can or freeze and went with it.  Yesterday morning I started peeling and thinly slicing apples to make the applesauce.

All the apples peeled and sliced in the roaster.

 The recipe required 4 lbs. of apples, 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar.  I do not like my applesauce very sweet and I wasn't sure how sweet or tart the apples were, but I only added 1/4 cup of sugar to my applesauce.  I ended up taking the recipe times 4 to almost use up my 5-gallon bucket of apples.  Also, instead of using a crock pot to cook my apples since I had so many, I used my big electric roaster.

This morning after cooking my apples for 24 hours, I pureed them with a hand-held blender.  I don't like chunks in my applesauce.   Last, I put the applesauce in jars and then canned them in a hot-water bath for 20 minutes.  The result was 10 pints of homemade applesauce.  Now let's hope all the jars seal.

Next, I think I will make apple butter or pie filling.  Maybe tomorrow after school we can go pick another big bucket of apples.  Also, I did make a apple crisp with my apples.

Take care,
Michelle