Waste not, want not…my mother drilled this into me. So today, while cheering on Columbus for the discovery of the new world…which we all know to be false btw, since the Vikings preceded his memorable ocean voyage by ~500 yrs …but we’ll give him credit for landing on what he thought was the west indies, and then journeying home to tell his fellow europeans of the UFOs and native peoples he ran into on his trans-atlantic cruise…I am using the last 3 macintosh apples in my frig that have been having a holiday of their own, gayly releasing a plethora of ethylene gases causing my tapioca pudding and filtered water to taste decidedly “apple-y”.
HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE
Ingredients:
- 3 apples
- 1/2 cup of apple cider or other juice
- 2 Tb sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Bear with me patiently as I wash and chop them up with their skins on (I’m a great believer in the nutritional value of skins plus apple skins bring pectin to the party which thickens the applesauce). Feel free to peel them if you don’t like the mouth feel of skins.
Then splash a generous 1/2 cup of cider (although all I have available today is orange mango juice, 2 Tablespoons of maui turbinado sugar I’ve stored with a cinnamon stick left over from making cranberry sauce (rinsed of course), and a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
I bring the 3 qt saucepan to a boil, turn it down to a simmer just until the apple chunks are tender, while sipping the leftover orange mango juice…perhaps 10 minutes.
Now I pour the hot apples into my cute mini-cuisinart, and briefly pulse 4-5 times.
I like my applesauce a little chunky, not smooth, but feel free to make yours as chunky as you wish. If you’ve timed it well, your juice sipping and applesauce making should be done at the same time:) Here is the tasty product of your 15 minutes of labor (against a background of the Tibetan national flag).
You may feel the need to add raisins and/or dried cranberries, both of which only add to the flavor and nutritional value. If so, toss them in whole after you’ve pulsed the applesauce, but while still warm which will plump them up and make them tender. I’ve served this homemade applesauce either warm or chilled, for lunch or Thanksgiving dinner.
You will savor the sweet apple flavor…very different from applesauce in a jar.
Post the alternative version (beet-apple sauce) – which if I recall, did not need the addition of sugar as the beet served as a natural sweetener.
excellent idea! I will post that particular recipe as well. I thought it tasted very good…thanks for the suggestion!
Your version is also easy and delicious. Some folks prefer more ‘sauce’ in their applesauce. I applaud you for coming up with your own recipe…and encourage you to continue to showcase your culinary skills, Congrats for making applesauce sir…in a day and age where bachelors prefer fast foods, you show great skills in the kitchen!
recipe that I use, entails cutting up apples and covering with water, adding cinnamon , boiling and then simmering until most lumps gone
wishing you all the best, fantastic idea and I know this will be successful for you