Homemade applesauce is so good. Today I helped my daughter, Jill, make applesauce using Golden Delicious apples. The Golden Delicious make a thick, sweet, golden applesauce. They are good for canning or freezing and take very little sugar. Golden Delicious are my favorite all-purpose apple and are available in mid to late September. They are also good for eating raw, baking, cooking, apple-butter and cider.
We cut the apples in half and take the seeds out before slicing the half in slices. Do not peel.
We cook the slices in a large kettle on medium heat on the stove. Add a cup of water to the kettle of apples to help keep them from scorching. You must stir frequently.
Cook until the apples are soft.
Remove from heat and either squeeze them through a Victoria strainer or a sieve like this to remove the pulp from the skins.
Add sugar to taste and spoon the hot sauce into clean canning jars filling to the lower ridge on the lip of the jar.
Add lids (heated in water) and rings.
Pressure quarts 5 minutes on 5 pounds pressure.
After 12 hours of cooling, remove the rings and store in a cool, dark room.
For detailed information on “how to can” see my blog “How to Use Your Pressure Canner”.
To freeze: put cooled sauce in freezer boxes and freeze.
Other suggestions or tips:
- If you like a tart applesauce (my favorite) use Transparent Apples (older variety of green apples) which are available at orchards in late July. A tart sauce takes a little more sugar but I love the flavor.
- Jill said she prefers to can the sweet apple sauce and freeze the tart.
- My mother likes to peel her apples before cooking and then blend the cooked apples in the blender for really smooth applesauce.
- A Victoria Strainer is a neat canning gadget to use on apples and tomatoes (for juice). It very neatly separates the pulp for the skins.
- I feed the apple peels to my chickens. They love them.