Homemade Applesauce - Home Cooking

The amounts and measurements will vary greatly according to the variety of apples you use. These are rough estimates for about 4 quarts of applesauce. Yellow delicious apples make very good applesauce that needs very little sugar. You can also combine apple varieties. Experiment until you find your own favorite apple variety or blend.

Applesauce can be made in large quantities and canned using the boiling water bath canning method.

Applesauce

fresh apples, about 30 to 35 medium size cooking or baking apples.

3/4 cup water

brown sugar - See amounts below.

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation -
Peel and the core apples. (Peeling is optional, but for chunky applesauce you must peel the apples since you won´t be straining it.) Cut the cored apples into quarters or smaller. Place the apples in a large stock pot. Add a small amount of water and cook over medium heat until the apples are very soft, stirring frequently.

Strain the cooked apples in a rotary type food strainer, food mill, or similar equipment. For very smooth applesauce you can use a food processor instead. No straining is needed for chunky applesauce. While warm, add brown sugar according to taste. The amount depends on how sweet you like it and the tartness of the apples. Start with less than 1/4 cup brown sugar per quart of applesauce up to 1/2 cup or more per quart for very tart varieties. Add cinnamon - about 1/4 teaspoon per quart of applesauce. Pour the applesauce into pint or quart size canning jars and process in a boiling water bath canner - 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Applesauce may also be frozen, but it will be thinner after thawing.

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	Caitlin McLeod BellaOnline's Home Cooking Editor