Hi there! I haven't forgotten about you guys!
I know it has been a bit since I posted, but a few days ago I took a nice tumble down the stairs and haven't been feeling up to blogging. But I am feeling better now!
On Saturday I went to my local farmer's market about bought 2 huge bushels of golden delicious apples. Yum! If you ever want fresh fruit, vegetables or in my case meat, head to your local farmers market. Support your local farmers and community!
All of these apples were $18. Which doesn't sound like I got much, but it was roughly the same amount as I would pay in the grocery store, and I helped support my community.
So my mission on Sunday was to take these apples and make applesauce!
Now I didn't take pictures of all of my steps, but they are pretty easy to follow if you have canned before or if you haven't. This was my first time canning anything! First things first, wash your jars. While I was washing these, I got my canning pot ready and started heating the water up. As I washed and dried the jars, I put them into the water to heat up with it. I was a little worried about cracking the glass.
In a non-reactive pot, put 1 cup of water and 4 tbsp of lemon juice. Then came the tedious part. Peeling and slicing 6 pounds of apples because I did a double batch. I came up with roughly 18 apples for 3 pounds. Now I peeled these babies the old fashion way, with one of these doo-hickeys:
And yes, this is my actual peeler. Looks just like this, potato handle and all. Jealous? You should be, this baby cost me a whole dollar at my local Dollar Store.
Like I said. Peel and rough chop away! As you are doing this, put the apples in your pot and stir with the lemon juice to stop browning. About halfway through the apples, I turned the heat to medium and kept slicing. By the time I finished, the apples in the pot were just starting to boil.
You then simmer the apples for 10 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After this I used an immersion blender, if you have a food mill you can use that too. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste if you want.
Then comes the canning. You ladle the applesauce into the jars removed from the water leaving a 1/4inch of headspace. Remove any trapped air with a skewer, then wipe the rim with a wet paper towel.
Then put put you lids on and tighten, being careful not to burn yourself on the hot glass jars. Submerse in the canning pot, making sure that the water covers the jars, and process for 10 minutes. The turn the water off and let rest for 5 minutes in the water.
Remove from the water and let rest for 24 hours. Then, the good stuff:
Y.U.M.M.E.R.S!
Have you guys canned anything this year? Any suggestions for a first time or beginner canner? I would love to hear about them!
K.
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