Back to school season has me filled with mixed emotions. I’m sad to see the end of summer, the shortening of days, the beginning of crazy schedules full of band practices & competitions, Scout meetings, football games and of course all the homework. On the flip side, I’m excited about the upcoming fall colors, the ending of oppressive humidity, the end of lawn mowing season but most of all, I’m pumped for apple season. Here in Ohio, the local apples are just arriving at my local farmer’s market and boy are they good.
I saw this awesome post from Suburble where my friend Tara is sharing her Freezer Applesauce. She likes her applesauce to taste like apple pie so she adds a bit of cinnamon and sugar. My family’s favorite is the marriage of summer and fall: mixed berry applesauce. They eat it like it’s going out of style. Why don’t you make some with me.
Mixed Berry Applesauce
Ingredients:
- 5 pounds of locally grown apples
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 cups of berries of your choice (I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries)
- Sugar to taste
Then add your berries (make sure that any steams and bad berries have been removed). Cook and additional 20 minutes or so.
It will be a gloopy concoction but this is good. You want your apples to be nice and soft.
Run your applesauce through a fruit and vegetable strainer. (I have an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. Tara uses a manual strainer that you can see in her post HERE). When you run your cooked berries/apples through the strainer, all the seeds, stems and skins will be separated from the applesauce goodness. You can see I have one bowl catching my applesauce and one catching my skin/seed waste.
Give your applesauce a taste. If you feel like it needs some additional sweetness, add some sugar.
Now all you have to do is decide how you’d like to store your applesauce. I like to freeze mine, same as Tara. So, I just wash my jars well and then add my freshly made applesauce, making sure to leave some head space. If you prefer to can your applesauce, sterilize your jars and lids and process according to the directions HERE.
Trust me, this stuff is super yummy and wont’ last long! Now, I have a surprise for you. This applesauce is the start of something else that I know you’ll love…..I’ll be sharing it tomorrow!
Have a wonderful Friday evening!
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