Apple Sauce

I think making applesauce is my absolute favorite of all preserves.

It all started last Sunday when I was walking my cat. Yes, I walk my cat. Twice a day even.

We were taking our normal route, when I noticed a squirrel had discovered the MacIntosh tree! Ooo - this means war! I hadn't planned on picking that day, but obviously plans changed.

I got my trusty new apple picker,

a couple of boxes and my garden cart to proceed with the apple picking..

I picked about a bushel and a half of apples from the tree - missing one branch entirely. Ooo! That makes me so mad!

Since the picking itself got my vertigo up, I chose to wait a day or so before making the applesauce. I mean, if an apple can be stored for months, it can wait another few days.

The next morning, after our walk, I was sitting on the deck with my cat, enjoying my coffee and the birds singing while they ate their breakfast, when I noticed a squirrel coming across the roof of our garage. He came right to the front left corner - closest to the house, and just stared down. There are no trees around it. So I *know* he's staring at me, and at the apples. LOL I was getting the tink eye from a squirrel!

What I'm finding even more funny is the fact that he hasn't gone back to the tree - to find out there's a branch FULL of fruit! I'll be going for that next.

So - back to the applesauce. Put some duct tape on my index finger of my knife hand and get to work. Wash the apples, cut the apples away from the core, throw them in a big sauce pan with some water so it doesn't scorch and cut them hot and fast.

Put through the foley food mill and hope it doesn't splop on you. Repeat until your done.

23 pints the first day, 27 pints the second day.

Trust me, if you ever make your own applesauce, you will never eat store-bought again. It has no flavor. Sugar is cheaper than fruit, so what you get is mushy sugar water. And probably corn syrup at that. Making your own allows you to use as much or as little sugar as you want, and it can all be pure cane sugar. It can be brown sugar, it can be molasses. I wouldn't advise honey, even with it being canned. I wouldn't trust that would kill all of the enzymes, unless you used a pressure cooker.

So, we now have virtually enough to have a pint a week for the entire year.

And if I go back for that final branch, we will have enough!

And normally when I make sauce, I like using at least 2 different types of apples, but this year we haven't had frost yet and this was my one opportunity to make it.