Gluten Free & God Seeking: How to Make Applesauce & How to Can Applesauce

The taste of homemade applesauce makes all the work worth it. During the last two weekends my husband and I have made 10 quarts of applesauce!! This is again one of those things I do because it makes me think of my grandmother. She would serve her applesauce in small green dishes along with our dinner.

Our youngest grandchild having her bowl of
my applesauce!

In 1985 when I had two small children an older sister in Christ named Marie came into my life in a practical way. Besides helping me with the girls, she taught me how to can fruit.

For the first time I realized how hard it was for my grandmother to can those jars of applesauce, plums, and cherries that we ate all winter!

This spring this dear believer passed away, and so I wanted to can this fall, and passing on this wonderful tradition to my children is part of that memory.

MAKING HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE

1. Clean apples: One site I checked called Pick Your Own shared instead of using tart apples for applesauce, use sweeter ones and you can even mix them up so you won't need to add sugar or maybe just a little. They also have information on how to purchase a food mill and other helpful tips on making applesauce. Put the apples in the sink or plastic tub and wash them with water.

2. Fill water bath canner with 4-5" of water: I use my Better Homes & Garden Cookbook for canning, and it says to fill your canner with enough water to cover the jars with water when they're put in. The box for the ball jars says to heat this water to a simmer (180 F). It takes about 15-20 minutes for all of this water to come to a boil.

3. Core & Cut apples: We like to use an apple corer because it takes less time. If you like to cut them, you just have to cut them into quarters because after you crank a batch of apples, the cores, seeds, and skin are all left in the mill.

4. Put apples into a large stock pot: Put about 2-3 cups of water into a large stock pot and add the cut apples. Turn the heat on medium and let them cook up until they are tender. Stir occasionally to make sure they are not getting scorched on the bottom. Add any additional water to keep the sauce at the right consistency. This takes about 20-30 minutes.

5. Clean canning jars:

(1) During this time, put your canning jars into the dishwasher or use hot soapy water and rinse them in hot water to sterilize them.
(2) Fill the jars with hot water and let them sit in hot water until they are ready to be filled up. This will keep the jars from cracking when you put the hot applesauce inside of them!

6. Make applesauce using a food mill:
(1) Get out a large glass bowl and put the food mill on the edge of it.
(2) Fill the food mill about three-fourths full and start turning the crank. Turn the crank in both directions in order to get as much sauce out of your apples that you can.
(3) Dump the skins, core, and seeds into a compost bucket.
(4) Continue doing this until you have processed all of the apples.

7. Preparing the canning lids: Put about 2 cups of water into a small saucepan and turn it on medium heat. Don't let this water boil, or it can ruin the seals. When it gets hot, set your lids into it and keep them there until you need each of them.

8. Adding any sugar and cinnamon: Taste your applesauce to gauge how sweet it is. When I made about 30 cups of applesauce on Sunday, I just needed to add 3 cups of sugar. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.

Note on using apple juice concentrate to help sweeten it: On August 17, 2014 when my husband and I were making applesauce, I added 1 cup of apple juice concentrate and after tasting it, I only had to add 1/2 cup of Costco's Organic Sugar to the 10 cups of applesauce in the bowl, and it tasted amazing! I like my applesauce to have a bit of a bite, so you can adjust it by adding more sugar according to your liking if you want to use the concentrate to take the place of some of the sugar.

9. Fill one jar at a time with applesauce: Put a large canning funnel onto the mouth of the jar and use a ladle or measuring cup to put the sauce into the jar.

10. Wipe down mouth of the jar: Wipe down the top and edges of the jar to remove any applesauce that would prevent a proper seal from forming.

11. Put the lid & band on the jar:

Take a lid out of the saucepan with a fork, and center it over the jar. Hold it in place with your finger like you see me doing in the picture below, and then with your other hand put on the band and twist on the band until it is what the Kerr jar box calls "fingertip tight." Make sure the bands are not over tight it says because air inside the jar needs to escape during the canning process.

12. Processing the rest of the applesauce: Follow steps 8-10 for each additional jar of applesauce.

13. Fill canner with jars of applesauce:
(1) Use a canning jar lifter to lower each jar into the boiling water in your water bath canner.
(2) Better Homes & Garden says make sure the jars don't touch each other.
(3) Put the lid on the canner.
(4) You count the time when you hear the water come to a rolling boil. Jars should be covered with 1" of water; so add more hot water if you need to. It takes 10 minutes to process either a pint or quart of applesauce.

14. Let jars sit in the canner for 5 minutes after the timer goes off: After the jars have been processed, turn off the heat and let them sit for 5 minutes. Then take them out with the jar lifter. Set them on a clean towel and let them sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Do not touch the bands!

15. Checking to see if the jars are sealed properly: The next day you can remove the bands from the jars and check to make sure the lids have sealed. You can also wipe down the mouths of the jars. The instructions from the package of Ball pectin say press the center of the lid, if it doesn't flex up and down, it is sealed. If the jar didn't seal, you can refrigerate it and use it within 3 weeks or you can reprocess it with a new lid.