Ten! Ten Apples Up On Top!

Ok, not ten. Try a few hundred! That's approximately how many apples my friend BS and I processed into applesauce this weekend.

One of my favorite BYU students, W, comes up to do her laundry on weekends and while here, does yard work and other kindnesses. She had picked several buckets of apples a week ago, and probably did not pick quite half of what was on the tree (it was a bumper crop this year). Considering that I did not get around to spraying this year, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of the apples. Oh, and I scored a box of golden delicious applies from a neighbor, and some fabulous red delicious apples from BS's parents (my adoptive parents). (I pretty much lived on red delicious apples all last week)

So, last Saturday I loaded up my car with apples, jars, rings, and lids and headed 20 miles south to spend a pleasant afternoon and evening chatting with BS, while we quartered, cooked, and strained apples into a yummy sauce. Once again, I was surprised by how many apples it takes to get a canner-load of applesauce. But as my neighbor JB put it, "I figure a half-cup serving size must contain all the goodness of at least two apples"(not a direct quote, but that was the gist of it). Here is the secret to making canning fun -- make it a social event! Not only do you get more done, but you get to visit, boss around your friend's children (I am QUITE gifted in that activity), eat waffles and peaches for dinner, laugh, and before you know it, the job is DONE!

I think my favorite 5-year old twin boys (K&C) must have eaten 3-4 raw apples apiece by the end of the day. Every little while they would sidle up to the kitchen counter and request more apple. I was informed that I was NOT cutting them right -- and that I should cut them like mom does (I was giving them eighths instead of quarters -- oh the horrors!) I think older brother G would have been right up there with them had he been around, but he got to be outside enjoying the wonderful weather with his friends. (The snow and cold of the previous weekend gave way to warmer weather by this weekend)

Both BS and I were bushed by the time we finished our bushels. (And, yes, she said it was OK if I referred to her as "BS". I did ask.) When we were cleaning up, we struck a deal. I did the dishes and she loaded my car. DONE and DONE.

Here's something new we discovered about each other on Saturday -- we both like to put warm applesauce on top of vanilla ice cream! Her husband thinks it is weird, but he doesn't like anything with warm fruit. I think it is like apple pie and ice cream without all the fuss.

In closing, a big THANK YOU to the neighbor who came and took away the rest of the apples. BLESS YOU! I hate it when they go to waste, and I am ready to be done with canning for 2008. It's time to move into holiday candy-making mode! For the record, I did make a batch of marshmallows this weekend AND dipped them in chocolate. The are for my SIL who was the winner of the "name my blog" contest. I look forward to delivering them personally on Sunday when I travel home for my youngest niece's baptism.

Applesauce

My apple supply runneth over -- time to make applesauce! I had quite a busy day today, so I decided to try them in the crockpot. I filled up the crockpot with washed, cored & sliced apples (left the peels on), added the juice of a big lemon, and the rind (I used a vegetable peeler to peel of strips of the rind, and that worked quite well for getting just that top layer of zest and none of the nasty white pithy stuff.) I threw in a half-cup of water, and turned the crockpot on "high" for an hour, then turned it down to "low" or 6 hours or so. By then, the apples were nice and mushy.

I put it all through my food mill (similar to this one) which left me with a large bowl of applesauce and a sludge-y layer of skins in my food mill (very little elbow grease required).

I took some to a friend's house tonight as a contribution for dinner, and everyone seemed to like it. I think I had a bit too much lemon, because I could definitely taste it, but no one else seemed to mind. I did not add any sugar, but you could certainly add it to taste after separating the pulp from the skins. YUM!