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Apples are available all year round, especially when you grow a variety of them that ensure a long harvesting and shelf life. If you don’t have an orchard, you still can buy apples at any time of year. Nevertheless, fresh apples, plucked right from a tree when they are ripe are the privilege of autumn. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful brother with a vast orchard and enough love for his sister that he allows her (that is: me) to have her share of his fruit harvest. Where we had very few fruits last year, this year has presented us with an abundance of them! Apart from eating the apples right from the tree and baking apple cakes in all varietes, what better way to preserve them for the upcoming winter than by canning apple sauce?
Ingredients and equipment for canning apple sauce
You’ll need a water bath canner (no pressure canner necessary for this recipe), appropriately large jars with well-closing lids and apples – at least one kilogram, the more the better – and sugar if you like.
Preparations
Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
Instructions for canning apple sauce
Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues. Once washed, peel the apples, quarter them and cut out the cores. Cut off all rotten parts. If you want to make apple vinegar from the scraps, make sure that you only use unspoiled peels and cores. I usually take three bowls when preparing apple sauce: one for the apple quarters to be cooked, one for rotten apple parts or wormy cores to discard and one for all the scraps I later use for making vinegar.
Cooking
Once you’ve peeled and cut all the apples, wash the quarters again and put them into a large pot (or several if you have too many apples to fit into one, though you can also cook them in succession). Fill up water to about a quarter of the pot and put the apples to a boil. When the water’s boiling, carefully stir the apples from the top under so that they cook as well. After some minutes – depending on the sort – the apples become soft. Now use a hand blender to mix them into a smooth, homogenous mass. If you want, you can now optionally add some sugar to the apple sauce, but it isn’t necessary for preserving. I don’t use sugar in my apple sauce but if you want to and like your sauce sweeter, go ahead and add sugar to your taste.
When the sauce is blended stir it well until it’s boiling. Be very careful at this stage as the thick mass will easily bubble over and explosively release splashes of hot apple sauce that usually shoot at an unsuspecting arm or hand. I’ve gotten burnt more than once and know what I’m talking about…
Remove the pot from the stove and with the help of a funnel, ladle the apple sauce into the jars. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That’s best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
Canning
To can the jars, fill as much water into your water-bath canner as indicated in the manual and heat it. The water in the pot must have approximately the same temperature as the apple sauce in the jars. If we put the hot jars into cold to medium-warm water, they would break due to the huge temperature difference between the outside (water) and the inside (apple sauce). When the water has reached about 70 °C (160 °F), you can put the jars into the water bath canner (the apple sauce in the jars will have cooled down to approximately the same temperature by now). Make sure there is enough space between the jars and they don’t touch. Close the pot lid and bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 35 minutes and let the canner do its wonders.
When time’s up, carefully open the canner lid. Beware of the hot steam! Remove the jars with a glass lifter out of the canner and put them onto a towel on the counter to cool down.
When they’ve cooled down completely, store the apple sauce in a cool and dark place. It’ll last up to two years.
Apple sauce is a wonderful addition to pancakes or waffles, you can stir it into your morning yoghurt, make an autumnal apple tiramisu with it or just scoop it right from the jar.
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- apples, at least one kilogram, the more the better
- sugar (optional), to taste
Instructions
- Prepare your jars by washing them and the lids in hot water or the dishwasher. Put the jar lids and rings or the rubber bands in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it all cook for five minutes. Remove the lids, rings and/or rubber bands from the boiling water and put them onto a clean dish towel on the kitchen counter. Let them dry.
- Rinse the apples in your sink to wash off any dirt. Also, remove any leaves, grass or other residues.
- Once washed, peel the apples, quarter them and cut out the cores. Cut off all rotten parts. If you want to make apple vinegar from the scraps, make sure that you only use unspoiled peels and cores.
- Once you've peeled and cut all the apples, wash the quarters again and put them into a large pot (or several if you have too many apples to fit into one, although you can also cook them in succession). Fill up water to about a quarter of the pot and put the apples to a boil.
- When the water's boiling, carefully stir the apples from the top under so that they cook as well. After 5 - 20 minutes - depending on the variety – the apples become soft. Now use a hand blender to mix them into a smooth, homogenous mass. If you want, you can now optionally add some sugar to the apple sauce, but it isn't necessary for preserving.
- When the sauce is blended stir it well until it’s boiling. Be very careful at this stage as the thick mass will easily bubble over and explosively release splashes of hot apple sauce that usually shoot at an unsuspecting arm or hand.
- Remove the pot from the stove and with the help of a funnel, ladle the apple sauce into the jars. Leave about one inch of headspace. Before closing the lids, make sure that the rim of the jar is clean. That's best ensured by dipping a clean cloth (for example a towel) into some vinegar and wiping the rims clean. Seal the jars with the lids.
- To can the jars, fill as much water into your water-bath canner as indicated in the manual and heat it. The water in the pot must have approximately the same temperature as the apple sauce in the jars. If we put the hot jars into cold to medium-warm water, they would break due to the huge temperature difference between the outside (water) and the inside (apple sauce). Make sure there is enough space between the jars and they don’t touch. Close the pot lid and bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 35 minutes and let the canner do its wonders.
- When time's up, carefully open the canner lid. Beware of the hot steam! Remove the jars with a glass lifter out of the canner and put them onto a towel on the counter to cool down.
- When they’ve cooled down completely, store the apple sauce in a cool and dark place. It’ll last up to two years.
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