I did something a little bit different this year. I measured out twenty pounds of apples, added a half-gallon of cider and that is what I cooked down. In previous years I filled the kettle as full as it would go.
It struck me that the apples on top...you know, the ones farthest from the heat source, took much, much longer to cook. The top 1/4 took half the time.
My thinking was that our canner holds 8 quarts, so what if I cooked just enough apples in each batch to make eight quarts, plus a skoosh. Basically, I was cooking batches where the kettle was 3/4 full.
Three batches of 20 pounds yielded 26 quarts. Two are in the fridge since the canner only holds 8 quarts per load.
Oh, and the apples on top are purchased apples. By putting apples that cook down rapidly on top, I can speed the process even more. The apples you see are Empire and I purchased them at The Country Mill on Otto Road.
The apples on the bottom are ugly apples we picked on our property.
I'm puzzled. I have always seen applesauce made with apples that were quartered and cored, sometimes peeled and sometimes not, and cooked. Then hot packed in quart jars. I've never seen whole apples cooked. What's your recipe? ---ken
ReplyDeleteSquezzo
ReplyDeleteThat is the great thing about applesauce. Doesn't matter what the apples looked like at the start, it's all beautiful in the end.
ReplyDeletebtb - we peel, core and spiral cut prior to cooking. The stack of slices gets cut vertically in a few spots. Makes for a chunky applesauce. Also ready to rumble for pie, crumble, or cobbler.
Or you put the cooked apples through a food mill and get nice smooth creamy applesauce.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topics, but ...
Adding a few crabapples to the mix when pressing cider always gives it a nice zing.
Never thunked of adding a few crab apples. Sounds like a great idea. I'll try to remember that next fall. Thanks---ken
DeleteWe have about 12 apple trees on our property and we got a ton this year! I don't know all the varieties but I just pick the best and mix them all up for sauce. We took bags full of apple to our neighbors. The chickens get a couple and the bunnies and yellow jackets get the rest.
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