Canning Applesauce

READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

You may be wondering if home canning is worth it.  There are several reasons why it is.

1. It is the only sure way to control what is in your food.  There are no chemicals or added dyes. 

2.  Knowing how to home produce your own food is an essential skill that can help you save money for your family when times are tough.

3.  Once the initial investment in equipment is made, the cost to home can is pennies on the dollar compared to ready made food from the store because the jars and equipment are used over and over again.

4.  It is so rewarding to look in your pantry and see it full of foods you made for your family.

5.  It tastes better than you can imagine.

6.  It is the only way to utilize home grown foods so they don't go to waste.

7.  Grocery stores aren't open when disasters hit, knowing how to prepare food from scratch and preserve it can save you in an emergency.

Here is how to make homemade applesauce.   

EQUIPMENT

Canner

7-9 Quart Jars with lids and rings

Canning Accessories Kit

Hand Mixer

Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer

16 Quart, Heavy Bottom Pot

Liquid Measuring Cup

Measuring Spoons

Dry Measuring Cups

Sink or Counter Top Wash Basin

Clean Dish Towels and Wash Cloths

Links for purchasing equipment online you don't have are listed throughout this post.

Before starting the applesauce making process, be sure you have jars that have lids and rings.  The recipe you will get from this post will make about 7-9 quarts of applesauce.  Some of these have the lids stored upside down which is why they look weird.  I store them this way so the lids don't get altered by the top of the jar.  Complete jars with the rings and lids can be purchased at grocery stores in the cooking accessories isle.  Walmart is pretty good about carrying them all the time in our area. 

 

Other than jars, you will need a clean sink, a large trash bowl, a sharp pairing knife and an apple peeler/corer.  They run about $20 and can be purchased online easily.  Here is a link for one I found:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=apple+peeler%2Fcorer%2Fslicer&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3153991271&ref=pd_sl_43bos174id_e

This is on the Amazon.com website and will offer a variety of prices and types.  I highly recommend getting the kind that will vacuum stick to your counter rather than the kind that clamps on the side of the counter.  They are sold in stores too if you don't want to buy online.  Just check around.  Pampered Chef has one too.

 

This is a hand blender.  It really is a must when doing home canning.  It is so much easier to work right in the pot rather than having to take the product to a blender then put it in a bowl, etc.  It is much less messy and gives you more control over the consistency of your product.  Check out this link at Amazon.com for hand blender ideas and prices.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hand+blender&sprefix=hand+ble

These can also be purchased at your local department store.

APPLES

This recipe calls for 20lbs of apples.  I recommend a variety of apples, hard and soft, for a good flavor.  I have 4 kinds of apples I will be using for this recipe.  Two are hard and two are soft.  Don't use the red delicious apples.  They are very grainy when cooked.  Use apples you cook with.  Such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, etc.  There are many varieties to choose from.

If you are buying your apples, try to get the first round of the season in the grocery stores.  Apples can be expensive, but they will marked down considerably when they first come out.  Check your grocery ads to buy at the best price.

PREPARING THE FRUIT

 Start by peeling and coring your apples.  Put the peeler/corer next to the sink for ease of use.  If you don't have that kind of room in your kitchen, your local dollar store should have a portable dish wash tub you can use.  Just make sure you rinse it out before using.

 Fill the sink or dish tub up 1/2 way with water and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  This helps keep the apples from turning brown while you are cutting them up.

After you have cut up all of your apples, make sure you clean up your work space.  If you don't clean things up as you go, you will end up with a huge mess at the end.  I scrub my peeler/corer with a brush that has some dish soap on it.  This gets all those little apple pieces off and then the apple juice doesn't have time to set on there and stick.

THE COOKING PROCESS

Pour 3 cups of water into a very large pot.  The pot should be at least 16 quarts and have a heavy bottom.  Thin pots will burn the apples while they are cooking and require you to stand over them more.  

 Put the harder apples, such as Granny Smith, in the pot first.  They will take longer to cook so you want them closer to the heat.

Then add the rest of the apples to fill the pot.

 

Put the pot on the stove and set the heat on high.  Let the apples cook for 1 hour.  Stir after about 30 minutes.

 

After 1 hour you will notice the apples have cooked down considerably.  Stir them again and turn off the heat.  Be careful, the apples are hot and may spit out at you. 

 

Using your hand blender, begin blending the cooked apples until the desired consistency is achieved.  Sorry for the blurry picture, I was holding the camera and mixing.  If you are happy with the flavor then leave as is for canning.  If you want it to be sweeter add White Sugar 1/2 cup at a time and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes to let the sugar melt into the sauce.  Taste between additions and don't add more than 1 1/2 cups sugar.  It will be too sweet.

  

If you want to have cinnamon applesauce then add:

3 T High Quality Vanilla

1 T plus 2 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/2 C White Sugar

Turn the heat back on Medium Low and cook for another 10 minutes to combine final ingredients.  Stir continuously.

CANNING THE APPLESAUCE

  

There are many ways to keep your jars hot.  Some put them in a low temperature oven and pull them out as needed.  I find that heating them in the microwave for two minutes on high achieves the same results.  I clean them and the lids and rings first in hot soapy water then rinse.  Then I put the jars in the microwave.  My microwave is over my stove so it is a convenient place for me to keep them while I am filling them with whatever I am canning.  

  

Place the hot jars on a towel while working with them.  This protects your counter top and prevents the jars from sitting on a cold surface and cracking.  Using a canning funnel, spoon the hot applesauce into the hot jars.  Make sure you don't fill them all the way up.  There should be a one inch head space at the top.  This means leave an inch of room at the top of the jar.

Here is a link for a canning accessories kit.  I use the tools for more than just canning.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_2_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=canning+kit&sprefix=canning+

This link also has the canners themselves on the page too. 

Take a clean cloth and wipe any excess product of the rim of the jar.  You don't want to leave any residue on the rim because the lid won't seal properly to the jar.  

Place the lid and the ring on the jar and tighten.  They don't have to be super tight.  Just firmly secure. The rings hold the lids in place during the processing time so the lids can seal properly to the jar. 

 

Place full jars in canner and process on high heat for 20 minutes.  The time is the same whether you use a water bath canner or a steam canner which looks like this one.  I prefer the steam canner because it uses less water so is less cumbersome to move from the sink to the stove.

 

When the jars are done processing, take them out of the canner and place on a towel to cool.  Make sure it is out of a drafty area.  As the jars cool the lids will make a popping sound indicating they are sealed.  Push down on the lids to make sure they have sealed.  If they give some they aren't sealed yet.  Wait 24 hours to see if all of the lids have sealed.  If you still have one that is not sealed down, use that to eat first or you will need to reprocess the jar with a new lid.

If you choose you can store them without the rings because they are no longer needed to hold on the lids.  Don't throw them away, the rings and the jars are reusable.  You will need to get new lids each time you can something new.

The applesauce will keep for 1 year in a cool, dark, dry place.  I store mine in the basement storage room. You could probably keep them longer under these conditions, but I try to use mine up in a year.