Homemade Family Applesauce

Last Friday, we had the family over to make some applesauce! 

When we were all in New Hampshire a couple weeks back, we picked A LOT of apples.  

Every year, Mike's family makes applesauce in the fall.  Their applesauce apparatus belonged to Mike and Laura's Great Grandmother Schaff and was from the 1930s or so.  I found this great photo on Laura's Facebook of Mike's mom and his little cousin making applesauce on Columbus Day Weekend in Maine a few years ago.

I had the privilege of making applesauce with Rindi, Laura, and Mike last year.  It's one of those recipes that wasn't exactly written down, so we weren't quite sure how well it would turn out this year, but I know Rindi enjoyed it and was laughing as Laura and Mike shared the responsibilities and Mike didn't even try to burn Laura with the boiling water!

This apple sauce is incredibly easy to make [if you have the right tool].  Mike found one of the apparatuses on Etsy, so here is the link if you're interested in some homemade applesauce!      Once you have a press, all you have to do is core the apples [we did about 4 dozen Macoun, Macintosh, and Cortland], and place them in boiling water for about 5 minutes.  At that point, the skins begin to peel back and the apple is soft.  Strain out those soft apples with a slotted spoon and place them in the press.  Use the pestle in a circular motion to squeeze all the sauce through the holes.   Lastly, add sugar and cinnamon to taste.  We used about 1/3 cup of sugar and a few tablespoons of cinnamon.  

These apples are ready for mashing!

The finished product!  The Macintosh apples are what give the sauce the great red color.