Making applesauce is not only super easy but saves you tons of money! Did you know that applesauce has one of the highest markups compared to other fruits? And those little single serving options are highway robbery. A quart jar of applesauce ranges from $2.99 to $4.99. The going rate for a half bushel, 24lb of apples, is $8.00 at Wheeler’s Orchard. This makes approximately 8 quarts of apple sauce. That’s $1.00 per quart folks. Talk about a savings.
Not only that, did you know apples are one of the most highly sprayed crops in the US? The average commercial industry sprays their crops with systemic pesticides up to eight times in a growing season. Additionally fungicides are sprayed every 10 days during the rainy season. This is done to “insure” the apple crop makes it to harvest. I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to poison my body with these chemicals. Organic and sustainable practicing farmers are proving you can harvest healthy crops including fruit bearing trees without the use of fungicides and pesticides.
If you look at the back of a Applesauce jar, you will see that there aren’t very many ingredients – my rule is the 5 or less is OK. But be sure to observe the label. Why do some companies feel the need to add, citric acid, Vitamin C and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)? According to the USDA one medium apple contains 14% of the daily values needed in a 2,000 calorie diet. Adding extra vitamin C is not necessary.
And what’s with this added HFCS stuff? Do you know what that really is? Not only does the body not process HFCS the same was a pure cane sugar, it often contains unregulated amounts of mercury. Bleck! As if that’s not bad enough products containing HFCS are frequently void of nutritional content which is needed to be beneficial for the body. In a nut shell when you eat these products you could also be eating poor quality otherwise unsellable foods.
When it comes to applesauce all you need is… Yep… You guessed it…. APPLES! Imagine that!!! No need to add sugar for most apple varieties – they are plenty sweet all by their selves. Today was applesauce making day. Talk about a fun activity to do with kids! What kid doesn’t love applesauce, Right? 
First we washed the apples, then we cored and sliced them with our handy apple corer slicer tool. We tossed the slices skins and all in to a large stainless steel pot, added a little water to keep them from burning on the bottom and let them simmer for 30 minutes or so until completely soft. For you exact measurement folk, I added one cup of water to the bottom of a 16quart stock pot.
Once the apples were thoroughly cooked we drained off the excess liquid. Be sure to save that back – it’s perfectly good apple juice people! If you don’t want to drink it right away, can it right along with the applesauce. We put the cooked apples through a food mill to separate the flesh from the skin.
Next, which is optional, we added some cinnamon because my grand kids love cinnamon applesauce. We made sure to mix it well so all the sauce had that yummy cinnamon flavor.
Last but not least we put the sauce into hot sterilized canning jars. Plopped them into our hot water bath for 20 minutes and Viola!!! You have homemade canned applesauce. We carefully removed the jars from the hot water bath, let cool on a rack or cloth, test seals, then they are good for storing up to 6 months. But I’ll have to be honest, with 15 grand kids and counting, 8 jars of sauce doesn’t last very long at Nana’s house.
Making applesauce is the best activity to do with little ones. They can be as hands on as they want to be until time to put the jars into the water bath canner. Momma’s & Nana’s should do this so the little ones don’t accidentally get burned.
My grand kids fell like they have made applesauce “All By Their-selves” when I’m “helping” them in the kitchen 🙂
Your Real Food Nana