Friday, October 13, 2017

The Applesauce Experiment...

I've been making applesauce for a long time, but I'm far from a pro. I can never remember what combination of apples makes the best tasting and prettiest sauce!  I don't like to add sugar, so I need to start out with apples that aren't too tart and have plenty of flavor.

Yesterday I went to a local fruit farm that has bargain bin apples in lots of different varieties. I filled three bags with different combinations of apples, and today I experimented.

Here we go.  Batch number one.

Smokehouse and Crimson Crisp...


This combination was tasty, but I prefer a pink looking sauce!  (it's the lighting...this sauce truly was very light in color and not at all pink!) Nit picky, I know...but hey, it's important!

Batch number two was a mixture of Rome and Jonamac.  By the looks of the skins, I would expect a pinker looking sauce...




It might be kind of hard to tell on these pictures...once again, it's the lighting in the pictures...but the sauce from this second batch was definitely much more pink!  But...not as tasty.

The third batch was what I call a medley...


That's what you call it when you can't remember what kind of apples you put in your bag!  

It's especially a bummer when this batch was the most tasty!

Do you have a certain variety of apples that you think makes tasty sauce?

7 comments:

  1. Did you can them in boiling water, or a pressure cooker? I've never preserved apple sauce. Nobody in my family really cares much for it, but it was a staple in my house growing up. -Jenn

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    1. I canned it in a hot water bath for 25 minutes. We go in spurts eating it, and sometimes I use it in place of oil when baking.

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  2. i don't make applesauce (don't know why ... but guess it's 'cause i like to eat them raw more). but i just finished my first bag of new fall apples, and they were the BEST mcintoshes i've ever had in my life. they were from the grocery store, and came from the hess co. in SE pa (around you, maybe?), which takes in apples from several states around there, the website says. anyhoo, i buy a lot of apples from two of our local orchards, too, but our mcintosh this year are not quite as good as the ones i got from the grocery. mcintosh is one of the apples i like best to eat raw and for pies, along with golden delicious, braeburn, jonagold, and one granny smith in every pie. --suz in NE ohio

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  3. A variety is the spice of life, and your apple sauce all looks delicious. You are like me, I prefer unsweetened applesauce but I usually buy it already made. However I've made lots of dehydrated apples and i eat it like candy. I put them in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid to keep them crispy. So very yummy.
    Hugs, Julia

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  4. Jill had a children's cookbook that had a recipe for homemade applesauce. She loved making it. (I've never heard of Smokehouse apples.) I would have thought the Rome and Jonathan would have been more flavorful. It all looks yummy to me!

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  5. I know the feeling. I always forget to keep notes and then that is when I make the perfect batch. Your applesauce looks yummy!

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  6. Applesauce, love it no matter the color!

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I enjoy hearing what you have to say! Thanks for your comments!