Thursday, November 6, 2008

Applesauce...straight from the tree!

Last week my dad and I visited some family farmland in central Virginia and did some work making some espallier apple trees
and we also picked a BUNCH of apples from some full grown apple trees that have been there for a few generations. We weren't sure what to do with all the apples so we decided on APPLESAUCE!! For the first batch we peeled, cored, and sliced them, and then cooked them for a couple hours over a wood stove. Then we ran some of them through a ricer because we had two different types of apples, the soft ones that disintegrated with cooking and the crisp ones that are better for making pies etc. After that we canned them, cooled them, and ATE 'EM. We made about 3 gallons with the first batch! Wow...homemade applesauce is GOOD. We added a little bit of sugar, but not a lot. It's nice to eat something you made, of all natural ingredients, without preservatives, and it is delicious. I could eat a jar at a time if I let myself. I'll post a picture soon. The second batch will be tomorrow most likely, except with a different technique. This time we'll boil them with the skins and cores on, then run them through the food mill to get the smooth consistency. Woohoo!!

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