Perfume your home with the aroma of apples simmering on the stovetop.
When the snow starts to fly outside, I know it’s time for applesauce. Not the stuff from a jar but the stuff I make on my own stovetop. Nothing is simpler to make nor tastier to eat.
My recipe is apples and water. Now that’s no different that many store-bought brands. But my applesauce tastes better because of the apples. We buy them in southeastern Wisconsin from a family-owned orchard. There, you can find 50-plus varieties of apples for eating, baking, saucing and frying.
Use sweet and tart apples in your applesauce
Pam, the owner, hand-selects varieties for pies and sauces. There are sweet and tart apples. Apples with white flesh and those with a yellowish cast. I don’t know the varieties, but Pam does.
She sells them in half-bushel paper bags. At first I was intimated to buy so many apples at once. This is about 8 pounds or more of apples, and there are just two of us at home. After I made the first batch, and we tasted it, I couldn’t wait until we finished that so I could start in on batch No. 2.
A dozen apples makes about 1.5 quarts of applesauce
I pick out 10 to 12 apples of various sizes and skin tones for my batch. I wash them in the sink and gently brush the tops and bottoms to remove any dirt. Then I peel, quarter, core and slice the apples into a 3.5-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven. The 10 to 12 apples (sliced) fill the pot to the rim. If a little skin is left on the flesh, that’s OK with me. (Add the peels and cores to your compost pile.)
I add a half-cup of water and bring to a boil. (I used to add a full cup but the sauce was too runny.) As soon as the water boils, I turn down the heat to a simmer and cover the pot with a lid. Soon, your house is perfumed with the aroma of cooking apples.
Every half-hour or so I’ll check the water level. Usually it’s fine because the apples are giving up their juices. I stir the pot and replace the lid. For me, the process takes about 90 minutes. By then, the apples have broken down but there are still some chunky pieces, which I like. This yields about 1.5 quarts of sauce.
Applesauce with yogurt, or with cinnamon and raisins
I let the pot and sauce cool. Then I transfer the applesauce to a plastic container and store in the fridge. To serve, I might add cinnamon, raisins and toasted walnuts. The other morning for breakfast, I mixed the applesauce with plain Greek yogurt. That was tasty.
The price per ounce of homemade compares to store-bought, which surprised me. I thought it would be cheaper.
Homemade applesauce is highly recommended
I recommend homemade applesauce for many reasons, especially if you buy the apples from a nearby orchard. By making it yourself, you know exactly how it was made and what ingredients were used. I find it satisfying to wash, peel and cut the apples. As mentioned, the house smells so good while the apples cook.
There’s a lot to love about homemade applesauce.