For me, October and November are all about apples and making homemade applesauce. And let me tell you, once you’ve had homemade, you will never, ever, ever go back to store bought. Trust me. I won’t eat any other kind of applesauce anymore.
It’s long been a tradition for my mom and I to get together and spend roughly six hours on a Saturday making applesauce (Now Inge gets to share in the joy, too!). Why so long? Because we usually turn out about 30-40 quarts! It’s insanely messy and hysterical. We constantly trip over each other, fight for the sink, fling apple peels all over the kitchen – pretty much have a blast making a mess…but a delicious mess. She learned to make applesauce from her mom and my Dad’s mom (my grandmothers). They would spend hours in the kitchen doing what my mom and I do together now.
We prefer the pure, simple, and sweet taste of the apples. We don’t add any flavors other than sugar. Some of the best apples to use for making applesauce are Gala (our favorite), Empire, Cortland, McIntosh, Jonathan, Golden Delicious (more tart), Jonalicious, Jonagold, and Fuji. You could use some others, too, but these are the ones you’ll get the best flavor and consistency.
You can get your apples anywhere, but for larger quantities you’re better off purchasing them from the farm markets and local orchards. The orchards and farm markets will sell them by the bushels. You’ll get about 12 to 16 quarts of applesauce per bushel of apples. Count on 12 or 13 quarts per bushel. If you’re only making a small amount, figure about 3 to 4 pounds of apples per quart of applesauce you want to make.
Instead of canning the applesauce, we freeze it in 3- to 4-cup study plastic containers (with lids). If you freeze it, the shelf life is indefinite (barring freezer burn and whatnot). Canned, which you can certainly do, has a shelf life of about 2 to 3 years.
This is for a large quantity – 20 to 30 quarts. If you want to make a smaller quantity, just reduce the amount of apples you use. —Writes & Bites
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