This past weekend I found myself with a peck or so of apples which I'd bought at Lapaceks Orchard and I turned them into applesauce. (Kim recognized us and knows me as the "Wolf River apple guy".) It's not a particularly difficult process and you can get away with a water bath for canning. Personally, I prefer to make my own as I can season it to my taste which means adding very little sugar.
I should invest in some automated device which will peel them and remove the cores because doing it by hand is a pain in the butt. Luckily Cortlands tend to brown at a slower rate than other varieties so they survived the process more or less the right color. I then sliced the apples and threw them into pots with a bit of water to cook.
Once they were nice'n'tender, they were drained and promptly mashed. As far as seasoning goes, I added cinnamon, some freshly grated nutmeg, and just a bit of sugar. Cortlands are fairly tart, which I rather like, so I went easy on the sweetener. From there they were packed and bathed for about 15 minutes which made the kitchen into a sauna.
In the end, I found myself with 5 pints. While they probably won't last all winter, we'll at least be able to enjoy the apple goodness for a couple months once the cold and snow settle in.
My mom makes applesauce with cortlands, but leaves the peels on. I don't know what her process is (I think the peels essentially need to be pulverized), but the applesauce ends up being pink.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she runs the apples through a food mill.
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