Anyone who has ever eaten a home-cooked meal in the Dekker house probably had the opportunity to try my home-canned applesauce. We honestly eat it with almost every single meal outside of pizza, Mexican, and breakfast 🙂
The kids love it, I love it, Dave loves it… and both Dave and I grew up with homemade applesauce as a regular addition to many of our meals.
It is a decent amount of work to can as much as we eat every year, but I honestly can’t imagine NOT doing it. We would all be so sad to miss out on one of our favorite (extremely simple) side dishes!
(Simon eating applesauce around 8 months old)
That said, I have plenty of other things on my to-do list during the busy fall months — yard work (especially the vegetable garden), school and church activities, community programs, birthday party planning (for a certain soon-to-be 5 year old), and holiday preparations to name a few.
I don’t want to spend a full weekend inside canning applesauce during the beautiful Fall months when I could do it in the dreary and cold winter months instead.
So for the past several years, I’ve canned my applesauce in the winter!
Our local orchard usually sells apples all the way into February — so I almost always can our applesauce over Christmas break when we have a lot more down time and Dave is home to help with the kids.
If you buy apples from the grocery store, you can get them year round (they are usually quite “fresh” all the way through the holiday season.)
Of course, there is nothing wrong with canning applesauce in the Fall. But for those of you who have a lot on your plate right now, who would rather be outside than stuck in your kitchen all day, or who just don’t feel like canning applesauce right now for whatever reason… you still have PLENTY of time left!
Wait until your schedule dies down a bit. Wait until it’s too cold to be outside. Wait until the holidays are over. Then, break out your Mason jars, your food mill, and your hot water bath canner, and get to work!
I normally don’t encourage procrastination… but in this situation, I’ll let it slide 🙂
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, here are my 2 favorite applesauce recipes:
Home-Canned Applesauce (in the canner)
8-Minute Applesauce (in the microwave)
If you’ve never tried home-canned applesauce before, you truly don’t know what you’re missing out on!
Give it a try sometime… maybe over Christmas vacation with “help” from your kids or grandkids.
A Few More Apple Recipes:
- Apple, Banana, Berry Smoothies
- Dutch Apple Pie
- Apple Crisp
- Apple Cake
- Apple Butter
- Caramel Apple Salad
- Apple Zucchini Bread
- Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie
Missy says
You know Andrea, I would happily eat applesauce at your house, but you’ve never invited me, for crying out loud 🙂
Andrea says
haha — I’d happily serve it to you 🙂
Ann says
We love applesauce, too! But IT IS SO GOOD with pizza & Mexican, it shocked me when you said those were exceptions. Our neighbor friends even put it ON their pizza
{after the pizza is on their plate.} But as a side dish is hubby & my preference!
Andrea says
haha — so we have occasionally done applesauce with Mexican (like a casserole, not quesadillas or tacos) but we have NEVER even considered doing applesauce with pizza. I just can’t go there 🙂
Liz says
Love your food mill! What kind is it?
Andrea says
Thanks 🙂 Here’s the Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2fJDED6
Natty says
But what do you do with applesauce? How do you eat it?
It sounds great in theory, we have plenty of fresh organic apples in my area, but I never heard of it and I would love to give it a try.
Is it a dessert? Do you eat it with steak as a side dish?
Andrea says
good question 🙂
We eat it as a side dish with pretty much every meal! Like fruit, just sauce. I totally understand if this sounds extremely weird — but it’s how Dave and I both grew up and it’s just a normal side dish for us!
Francie says
I remember a few years back when you post the whole apple sauce process, I’ve been canning applesauce for my little one ever since. Thanks!
http://www.supersimpleways.com
Andrea says
yay — glad you (and your kiddo) have been enjoying this delicious applesauce!
Megan says
Great tip! I love the idea of canning but can’t get over my fear that I am going to do it wrong and end up with unsafe food to eat. Any advise on how to get started? Would it be obvious if something had not gone well? Thanks for your great blog!
Andrea says
haha — so many people are worried about “doing it wrong”. The likelihood that your food would have any bacteria is SOOOO small. As long as your jars seal (which you can tell by touching the middle of the lid) you’re good to go!
Bonnie'sMama says
Canning applesauce in the winter sounds so cozy, the kitchen all warm and steamy with that lovely smell. I love the idea of waiting till then, when you’ve had a break from a whole summer canning and freezing and preserving all kinds of produce.
We can our applesauce raw, which I think is easier than the traditional way. Wash, peel, core, quarter them, then run them through our blender (similar to a Ninja or Vitamix). We don’t add any sugar; it is still sweet and good without. Pour into jars and can as usual.
This method saves time and mess. I love not having to cook the apples. Also, we don’t need to buy or borrow a food mill, with all the hot splatters of apple to clean up afterwards. The result is applesauce that takes amazingly fresh, like eating raw apples.
Andrea says
Sounds yummy! I don’t even own a blender (I know, crazy) so I’ll stick with my method for now — but the fresh taste does sound delicious! (plus, you have a lot fewer dishes to wash!)
Deni says
We love applesauce but I have never made it. I will definitely give this a try during the Christmas break. I also defrost and clean out our chest freezer when it snows, loading up the laundry baskets and sitting them in the snow, another great tip I learned from you 😉
Andrea says
I’m sure you’ll love it! The only “bad” thing about home canned applesauce is that you’ll never want to eat store bought applesauce again 🙂