Cinnamon Applesauce

I was missing my annual applesauce production at the house since we can't take it with us when we move.   So I found someone to help.  Agatha and I went to the orchard, got our apples and we made applesauce together.  Okay, I poked around the kitchen while she made it.  I taught her last year and she wanted to make sure she had it down perfectly before I left.  It tasted AMAZING right off of the stove all warm and my house smelled fantastic.

 

And because people are always asking me for my recipe I thought I'd post it as well as the "How To" so I can find it easy next time I'm asked.

 

Cinnamon Applesauce

(with a food strainer/sauce maker)

 

1. Wash apples.
2. Quarter apples.  If you are using a strainer which automatically removes the seeds, stems, and peels, then you can leave them on the fruit. Otherwise you should remove them at this point.
3. In your largest pot put ½" to 1" water in bottom of pan.  Fill with apples up to the top and put the lid on.  Since the apples will soften and squish down I often fill past full so the lid rests on the apples.
4. Cook the apples on high until a fork will easily go through the top middle apples.
5. Remove apples from heat.
6. Scoop into the food strainer and process.  All trash will be expelled out the back side.  Collect the applesauce from the spout.  If you are not using the strainer you can process by hand with a potato masher.  Depending on desired thickness of applesauce, you may want to include or reserve the liquid from the pot.
7. Use this recipe as a general guide.  Every apple has a different amount of natural juice and varying degrees of sweetness.  Do this to taste, realizing after the sugar and cinnamon get fully dissolved and cooked in it will sweeten slightly.
• 8 quarts of applesauce
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon

 

If you choose to can the applesauce for long term storage follow these directions:

1. Clean and sterilize bottles. 
2. Boil lids.
3. Using a wide mouth funnel, fill jars with applesauce to the bottom of the neck (about ½ inch from top).
4. Wipe top rim of each jar to remove any sticky residue that would prevent sealing.
5. Put on a sterilized lid and tighten ring around the neck of the jar.
6. Place in the water bath canner.
7. Once all the jars are in the canner, fill with water so that it is about 1 inch above the tops of the bottles.
8. Bring to a full rolling boil.
9. Reduce heat and process the jars at a steady gentle rolling boil for 20 minutes.
10. Place a bath towel on the countertop to protect from heat.
11. After the jars have boiled 20 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and place on towel.  Leave on towel while they cool.
12. If you are going to process more bottles, dump out about half of the hot water from the water bath and refill with cold water before adding the new jars to the canner.  If the water is too hot the jars will crack from the quick temperature change and applesauce will leak into the water making a sticky mess.
13. Lids will suck down as the jars cool causing them to seal.  You will often hear a popping noise when this happens.
14. Lids should seal within 24 hours on the countertop.  Once they are completely cool, check for a seal by pressing down on the lid. If it pops up and down it has not sealed.  If it is firmly down the seal was successful.  If they do not seal, they will need to be reprocessed by boiling again. Before reprocessing, check the lid to make sure the surface is smooth with no defects before reprocessing.
15. After the bottle seals, unscrew the ring and let it dry to prevent rusting of the ring.  Rinse the bottles to prevent ants from finding the bottles with any amount of sticky sugar residue.
16. Once everything is dry replace the rings and store.  If you are short on rings, they are not necessary for storage, simply useful once the jar is opened for use.

 

For planning:

• ½ bushel makes approximately 9 qt jars, will vary a little depending on type of apple

 

Tips and Tricks:

• When processing multiple batches in a row, dump out about half of the hot water and refill with cold water before placing the next set of jars into the water.  If the water is too hot the jars will crack from the quick temperature change.
• Bring a bath towel to place under applesauce collection pan.  Because the apples are boiling from the stove, the heat can discolor your table if the pan sits directly on the wood.
• If you are mass producing, you can have 4 pots of apples cooking at a time.  If your apples are particularly juicy, instead of adding water to the next pot just recycle the juice from the apples left at the bottom of the pot after you scoop it all out into the sauce maker.
• Sometimes if you have filled the jar just a little too high it will leak out during processing putting a little bit of apple into the water.  This is not a big problem but you will want to wash the jars to keep the ants away.
• To keep your jars pretty and free of water spots on the exterior, you can add 1 Tbsp vinegar per 1 gallon of water in the water bath canner.
• A water bath canner is not required—you can use other types of pots as long as the water covers the top of the jar.
• To measure and mix the ingredients I use one of those old see thru Tupperware cake covers as a bowl.  I measure 8 qt of water and mark it with masking tape on the outside.  Then I can quickly just fill the "bowl" to the 8 qt mark and stir in the sugar and cinnamon for batch after batch.

 

Recommended Equipment:

• Apples
• Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Sink
• Cutting board
• Large knives
• Large bowls
• Large pots with lids
• Bath towels
• Hot pads
• Sauce maker/food strainer
• 4 cup Pyrex measure to scoop into strainer
• Spatulas
• 1 cup measure
• 1 Tbsp measure
• Long spoon to stir
• 9x13 pan to catch applesauce from strainer
• Pan to boil lids
• Jar lifter to remove processed jars from water bath