Aandre's Dwarven Nom-Nom All-Natural Apple Sauce

**Commodore** on Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:11 pm

Ingredients

* 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples.
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
* 1 inch of apple juice
* 4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths (optional)
* 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar (optional, depends if you bought the wrong apples!! Smile

)

Method

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

2. Remove from heat. Let cool until warm. Mix.

3. Eat or store!!

Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.

My comments:

Here's how you do it right:

Step 1 - Selecting the apples

The most important step! You need apples that are sweet - NOT something like Granny Smith's like everybody else's recipe. Yeah, I know you like them and even if you do, they still wouldn't make good applesauce - you'd have to add a lot of sugar.

Instead, choose apples that are naturally sweet, like Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Rome and always use a mixture - never just one type. This year I used

* 40% red Delicious,
* 30% Fuji,
* 10% Yellow Delicious,
* 10% Gala and
* 10% Winesap.

This meant it was so sweet I did not need to add any sugar at all. And the flavor is great! The Fuji's and Gala's give it an aromatic flavor!

Step 2: Wash and Peel

Wash the apples in plain cold water. Using a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, carefully peel the apples.

Step 3: Cook it!

Put about 1 inch of water (I use either filtered tap water or store brand apple juice, nothing else) on the bottom of a huge, thick-bottomed pot. Put the lid on, and the heat on high. When it gets really going, turn it to medium high until the apples are soft through and through. As the apples cook, they'll release more water (apples are 99% water!).

Step 4: Mix it!

Some varieties of apples are very watery - if you want thick applesauce, just pour or ladle off the excess water - but DO save it - it's apple juice and tastes great! You can filter it through a coffee filter in a funnel if you want it clear!
Whether you pour off excess water or not, you can either put the soft cooked apples through a sieve, or simply stir them vigorously in the pot to mush them up! Obviously a food mill or strainer helps a lot, but you can do it by hand trough a colander, metal sieve or mush mush them up with a potato masher, a whisk or even a stand mixer or hand mixer. You can also put them into the food processor or blender to whip them into a smooth puree! I use a blender on the Puree setting. It comes out to Aandre's satisfaction.... and if it's good enough to feed an Army, it's good enough for Aandre!!

Step 5: Eat it or store it!

Put the applesauce into a large pot. Add cinnamon to taste. You should not need to add any sugar. The applesauce does not need any further cooking; just keep it hot until you get enough made to fill the jars... glass mason jars the the best but if you are making a small batch you can use those cheap plastic soup containers that you get when you order Chinese food! Smile

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