Homemade Applesauce

The past weekend affirms the fact that I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold. The temperature hit -20 degrees C (windchill excluded) and I can't help but wonder why I live in a country such a distance away from the equator. As the winter drags on, I reminisce to my favourite season: autumn.

Autumn is the perfect season - not too hot or cold, wonderful crisp weather, the fall harvest, the leaves changing colours. What's not to love? I will admit, the beginning of last October was really rough work-wise and I was more than ready to embrace the Thanksgiving long weekend when it arrived. On the agenda: fall foilage and apple picking.





I somehow managed to miss peach season last year, with my only purchase being a basket the fruit at the beginning of August. I love peaches and was ready for more, with plans of making peach preserves to go with my plain yoghurt and homemade granola for breakfast. However, that plan failed when my life became a busy mess and by the time it calmed down, peach season was over. I was devastated and vowed to myself that I would not miss apple season.





I debated between making apple butter or apple sauce but when I saw the recipe for apple butter, I decided to take the easier route. In fact, apple sauce was such a simple recipe that I feel confident that I will be able to tackle apple butter next fall. And while apple sauce isn't quite peach preserves, it is still delicious with my yoghurt and granola.

Homemade Applesauce
Adapted from Elise via Simply Recipes

I omitted the sugar because I like my applesauce unsweetened, but feel free to follow the original recipe which suggests 1/4 cup of brown and white sugar each.

3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths
Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 tablespoon
3 inches of cinnamon stick
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.

Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated.

Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.*

*Be sure to leave at least an inch of room between the lid, as the liquid will expand in the freezer. I learned this the hard way when I froze some lentil soup a couple of weeks ago and my glass jar cracked.