It's applesauce season in our neck of the woods, as in many of yours, and in Eden Ross Lipson's appropriately titled, Applesauce Season.Lipson's story is a city story though, so while she writes of a family heading off to the farmer's market to find apples, we headed to the back yard, in the rain, to pick them.
Then, it was into the kitchen, to wash them, and cut away the wormy bits - another step that Lipson's family gets to skip.
There's a stove top applesauce recipe at the back of the book, but we opted for the microwave method, we used last year, with a cup, or so, of sugar...
...a quarter cup of water...
...a dash of nutmeg, and three of cinnamon...
...mixed together with around 4 quarts of sliced apples, and microwaved for 10-20 minutes until soft enough to mash.
This year, we tried out the food mill Grandma gave us, when she was cleaning out her kitchen, because they use a food mill in the story. But, after a few turns, and scrapes, we decided it was not much fun...
...and decided to puree our softened apples in the blender, instead. So much for the "good ol' days".
Not that it really matters. Because in the end, Applesauce Season isn't so much about where the apples come from, or how they are prepared, as it is about savoring the time and tastes of togetherness.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
Ha! If I wasnt' so pregnant my applesauce would already be made...I suppose it's not going to be getting any easier...
ReplyDeleteI actually use the Kitchen Aid food mill...THEN my husband thinks it's best to also put it through our real food mill...cranked by hand. But it's so easy by then that it's not a big deal.
I have never used a food mill and I have never made homemade applesauce! I guess I should add the homemade applesauce to my to do list! I can probably skip the food mill though after reading about your experience.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried a blender. I have a whole 5 gallon pail full of apples waiting for me to process.
ReplyDeleteNothing I love better then homemade applesauce. I see you use nutmeg in yours as well. I've tried the food mill and like you ended up going to my blender.
ReplyDeleteGreat activity!
ReplyDeleteGlad you got so many apples off your tree. We have three apple trees in our yard, and maybe will get 5-6 apples total. Little jealous of the apples we saw falling off of trees on our way home from Wallowa Lake. We'll probably buy (again) our apples at the farmer's market for .40lb. Hopefully we'll can LOTS of apple- sauce, tastes so good during the winter.
ReplyDeleteMy kids go back and forth on applesauce, but they almost always will eat the homemade kind.
ReplyDeleteWe tried to make them using a potato masher according to one suggestion and that lasted all of 1 minute, if that.
Oh Yum!! I love homemade applesauce, all though admittedly we don't add sweetener to ours and eat it warm in the winter. ;) We use to use a mill when I was a child, but now we just use a stick blender right in the pan on the stovetop! :D
ReplyDeleteA microwaved applesauce + a blender? You are such a modern family :) Perhaps I'll be brave and do apple sauce this year after all.
ReplyDelete