Applesauce

Today was one of those days where I attempted to get too many things done. =) You would think I would learn. I had applesauce to make and had put it off for way too long. I was only going to do one of the bushels of apples up right now anyway, and that shouldn't take too long. These apples were called Enterprise. We got them at an organic orchard. The flavor reminds me of the green apple candy you can buy. I always said that flavor was nothing like apples, but these apples tasted similar although they were red. We also have a bushel of Gold Rush we picked. The man at the orchard said that they get sweeter with age and are good keepers. Our sweet friend Wina got some from him one year and kept them until March. So, we are going to hang on to those a bit. He told me the best way to store them was to rinse them and put them in a plastic bag while still dripping wet. Then put them in a cool spot and a fridge would be best. When we got to the orchard, the Enterprise were almost gone and had all been picked, so we just filled up bags from what he had left. The bags are 1/2 bushel in size and were perfect he said for storing the apples. Then when we went to pick the Goldrush, he gave us the paper type bags that sit on the ground better. So, as soon as I emptied the 2 plastic bags of the Enterprise, I put the Goldrush in those bags and they are in the milk fridge.

Here is one of the 1/2 bushel bags of apples.

Even though they are organic, I still put them in the rinse water.

Then I cut up a few at a time on the cutting board. I just had to cut them into quarters.

I would cut up enough apples to fill this bowl with the pieces.

I found this heavy duty fryer basket at a garage sale. It has come in so handy in doing tomatoes and apples. I fill it with apple pieces and put them in the boiling water. I use the popcorn bowl under this to catch the drips.

I let the apple quarters cook for 5 mins. This allows them to get to the right softness to run through my strainer.

I scoop them out of the water with the basket above and put them in the hopper on my strainer. I have a Squeezo strainer and I love it. I got it way back in 1987. It has seen some good use.

As you turn the handle on the strainer, all the peels, seeds, stems, etc. come out the end into one bowl. I fed these to the animals. Sometimes I will run these through twice and get some more out of them, but I had too much going at one time today.

The rest comes out a screen as applesauce. I catch it in a large bowl.

As the bowl gets full, I pour it into a large stock pot on the stove.

When I have run all the apples through, then I put the sauce in jars and water bath them for 20 mins. The bushel was not entirely full as we had eaten some and a few on the top were another variety I got to try. However, I got 9 full quarts of applesauce.

I had some company come today. One family came at 3 different times for different reasons. Ginny came over with some family that was in town to let the children see the animals. Anna showed up to volunteer her services which I appreciated.

While we were doing applesauce, I had a chicken cooking and then had to pick it for enchiladas that I made for dinner. We were out of bread, so I put the ingredients in the Zo to make bread dough and then put it in the pan in the oven. We also cut the tops and ends off the beets and washed them. They got cooked, but I was too tired to process them. I was going to make butter and cheese, but that is going to wait until tomorrow as well. It was a busy but productive day.