Homemade applesauce is a delight. There is simply no comparison between the taste of store bought applesauce and warm applesauce straight from the pot. My children seem to melt with happiness as the house fills with the scent of cooked apples spiced with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
This recipe is originally from my grandmother. It allows a lot of flexibility. Different apples make different types of sauce and different volumes once they are cooked up. This recipe is written to accommodate those of us with apple trees and those of us that just have a few apples which have gotten too mushy for a satisfying crunch. Remeber to store some applesauce in your freezer to defrost for days when the flu bug bites. A bowl of spiced applesauce does wonders to restore an ailing spirit.
You may cut the nasty bits out of bruised apples for this recipe. Do not use rotten apples. Just as the saying instructs, it will spoil the whole bunch.
Ingredients
- Apples
- Water
- Sugar (optional)
- Cinnamon powder (optional)
- Nutmeg powder (optional)
- Ginger powder (optional)
Procedure
- Rinse apples.
- If you have a food mill, skip this step and proceed to step 3. Food mills do the job of removing the peels for you. If you don’t have a food mill, peel the apples then proceed to step 3.
- Cut the apples into quarters and cut out the cores. The smaller you cut the apples, the less time it will take to cook.
- Cut bruised areas and wormholes out of apples.
- Put all the apple pieces in a pot with a lid.
- Pour just enough water into the pot of apples to cover the bottom of the pot so the apples don’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Place the lid on the pot.
- Place the pot on the stove and cook on medium-low until the apples get soft and mushy (like applesauce).
- If you have a food mill, allow the apples to cool. After apples are lukewarm, scoop them and grind them into another pot through a food mill. If you don’t have a food mill, remove the applesauce from the stove and mush the apples with a potato masher until they are mushy. Your applesauce is ready to eat as is but to make sweetened and spiced applesauce, proceed to step 10.
- To make sweetened applesauce, bring the sauce back to medium heat and add about 1/4 cup of sugar for every quart of sauce. Don’t bother measuring this. just eyeball it. Different apples have different levels of sweetness. If it isn’t sweet enough for you, add more sugar.
- To make spiced applesauce, add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, and 1 sprinkle of nutmeg per quart of applesauce. Cook on low heat until the sauce is warm.
Storage and Use
Leftover applesauce must be refrigerated. You can freeze the applesauce in freezer containers for up to 1 year. Applesauce is great canned.
