Making Applesauce with No Food Mill

pan full of apple chunks (photo by jhy)

You will need:
apples
pan with a tight lid
sharp knife
potato masher or strong fork

This is actually my preferred method of making applesauce. Since almost all the apples I use are free, low-quality apples, I would have to do a lot of trimming anyway, and I think it's just easier to peel and core them as well. The food mill is a lot of mess (in my opinion).

Peel, core, and remove bad spots from the apples. There is no set amount- it makes no difference, but you wouldn't want to fill a pan to the very top. You need some expansion and stirring space for cooking.

Place the apple chunks (I cut apples into quarters if small, or eighths if larger) in the pan, and add just a skim of water to the pan. Really, just a tiny bit. In this 6-quart saucepan I used maybe a quarter-cup of water. This is just enough to get the juices to start flowing in the apples with out burning.

Put the cover on the pan and place over the lowest heat possible. Check in about 5 minutes. Remove the cover, and the apples should have started creating their own liquid. At this point you can raise the heat a little bit, but keep it no higher than medium. Leave the lid off, and continue cooking until the apples are soft. Stir occasionally to redistribute the apples at the top down into the liquid.

When the apples are soft- usually in 5-10 minutes, use a potato masher to turn them into sauce. You can leave it as chunky as you like.

homemade applesauce- this batch is quite chunky (photo by jhy)

You can't get all the chunks out with this method. However, my husband likes extra-smooth applesauce, so I usually put some in the blender for him.

The flavor of the applesauce will depend on the variety of apples used. It's up to you- sweet or tart- or just whatever you can get! Sweeten to taste and/or add a dash or cinnamon or nutmeg.

Crabapple Sauce Serving Suggestion

crabapple sauce with bananas (photo by jhy)

The crabapple sauce is one of my favorite fruit treats. I can hardly describe how much I like the tartness, with the texture of applesauce that most of us have loved since childhood. This morning, I sliced some banana into the bowl with the crabapple sauce. This is a perfect combination!

The crabapple is tart and the banana is smooth and sweet. What a great medley of flavors and textures.

A 1/2-cup serving of the crabapple sauce, unsweetened, is about 100 calories. You will almost certainly want to add some sweetener, and if it's sugar or honey, you'll need to add those calories in.

This size serving would supply about 20% of a daily dose of vitamin C, and 5% each of calcium and iron. Crabapples are also high in Potassium, providing 10% of this mineral. Like any apple, they are a good source of fiber, but are high in carbohydrates because of the natural sugars.

See Crabapple at nutritiondata.com

Crab Applesauce from Juice-Making Pulp

crabapple pulp in the food mill (photo by jhy)

You will need:
Pulp left from making Crabapple Juice
A large pot- I use a 1- gallon kettle
A food mill
Clean jars or containers to store the applesauce

This recipe assumes that you have pulp left over from making Crabapple Juice. Don't throw that pulp away! There is a lot of food value left there. You will need to put it through a food mill, since it was cooked with the cores and skins on.

a dish of tart crab applesauce (photo by jhy)

Carefully empty the pulp from the jelly bag into the food mill. If it is this type of mill, you will need to set it over another pan to catch the sauce. A one-gallon pan works perfectly. Then press the pulp through the sides of the mill. When you are finished, wipe down the sides of the mill to capture any crabapple sauce that is sticking there and discard the pulp. As you can see, you get a wonderful pink applesauce, all with natural flavors and color.

Add sugar or sweetener to taste. I like things tart, and find that 1/4 c. sugar or Splenda to quart of crabapple applesauce is just about right. Store in the refrigerator, or package in containers for the freezer. It freezes well. This may also be canned. I'll add a post about how to do this kind of thing soon. Personally, I don't like to can applesauce. I think the extra heating time destroys some of the flavor and texture.

Tips: As you can see, one can still buy this old-fashioned style of mill. I haven't used any of the newer kinds. This one works great and I love using the tools I've worked with since childhood. At some point the pulp will become quite dry. You must make a judgement call as to when to stop forcing it through the mill. You don't want to waste good food, but you don't want to ruin the texture of the sauce.