Applesauce season has begun.
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Pro tip: Including the peels when you cook applesauce much improves its flavor, and also gives it some added color. There are two ways to accomplish this. Simplest is if you’re already using a food mill to break down the cooked apples, in which case you don’t need to do anything ahead of cooking but wash and cut up the apples, peels, cores, and all, and the food mill will take care of it. (This was my mother’s MO when I was growing up.) Alternatively, you can tie up the peels (and other detritus) in cheesecloth and throw it in the pot to cook with the apples, then squeeze any retained liquid out after. I’ve done the latter method and it definitely works to get some of the extra flavor into the sauce.
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I use the peels when I’m sufficiently comfortable with the fruit’s growing methods.
I am running out of jars but still had a lot of pears to process! I made Ginger Pear Jam from the pomona pectin cookbook, and used up the last of my precious pectin on the recipe. I was worried because the jam didn’t set right away and also seemed to separate a bit but by the next morning looked better. This might be it for preserving for the year.. unless I rustle up more jars.
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I bought too many apples, so I am here procrastinating, I mean learning.
How do you blend varieties? I have mostly descendants of Honeycrisp. I’m not able to describe them well, but one seems more floral than sweet.
I think I have Cosmic Crisp, Sugar Bee, and Lucy Glo and maybe Lucy Rose. One of the Lucys have read flash and is my favorite by far, for eating fresh. If I thought it was worth it I could add Fuji, Pink Lady or Granny Smith, but didn’t because I see those all the time.
Why save as sauce vs fresh. I see references to sauce with “new crop” apples and it made me wonder will it taste different.
Do you have a preference for preserving as sauce vs butter? Would you use the same apples?
I’m not sure I understand your questions, but I’ll type some responses anyway.
I pick a wide variety, decide via taste test which I prefer for fresh eating, and separate out some of those to have around.
The rest I combine without a lot of further thinking for all cooking/preserving applications: applesauce, apple butter, apple pie. In your case, you mostly have apples with similar characteristics so the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” rule I live by is a little bit less urgent for you.
If it helps, I’ll add that fresh apples, unless they are really awful, will not make bad applesauce/apple butter/other. They just won’t. The degree of difficulty with fresh apples is low.
One other consideration: the pink-toned ones do make pretty tarts and things, so if I had some of those, I would probably do something visually interesting with them on purpose.
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Either you’re overthinking it or I am not very discerning when it comes to apples. I make dried apples and applesauce most years (I have access to a packing shed where I can buy a bushel for less than $20 of a number of varieties). I sauce and dry whatever I happen to pick up. They’re all good to me! As for baking, though, I do tend to prefer the ‘classic’ baking apples, like Granny Smith or a mix of GS and Golden Delicious (which I hate to eat out of hand).
I am probably overthinking and procrastinating.
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Perfect! Thank you!
That’s a trap I fall into quite often, too!
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That’s a trap I fall into quite often, too!
Continuing from the trap:
From Epicurious recipe for Three-Apple Applesauce
“The combination of three varieties of apples gives this applesauce sweet-tart flavor and great texture”
The recipe includes “3 pounds Fuji apples or other sweet-crisp apples 3 pounds Granny Smith apples or other tart apples 3 pounds Jonathan or Rome Beauty apples or other soft-textured apples”
Martha Stewart wrote something about balancing floral vs maybe fruity apples.
I don’t remember and couldn’t find that comment but I found this…
“For the best flavor, use a mix of sweet apples, like Gala and Honeycrisp, and tart apples, such as Braeburn and McIntosh. Using all tart apples can result in a finished result that is quite acidic, so you may find you want to add a touch of brown sugar at the end.
…In addition to flavor, keep the texture of the apples in mind. Ones that break down very quickly when cooked, like Golden Delicious, will result in a smoother applesauce, while super-crisp varieties that hold their shape better (think Fuji and Granny Smith) will make for a chunkier end product.”
Not an answer to anything you asked 
but adding another option — you can also slice or dice for apple pie / apple cake / tarte tatin and freeze (toss with something acidic to prevent browning).
Those are wonderful idea but a little more carb forward than just applesauce I think. I can remember a time when I wouldn’t even eat an apple!
They would be nice treats if husband might eat it, but I don’t think he would.
I am considering pickling some for salads, but don’t think they last long enough.
Apple kimchi?
Ooo! That sounds interesting!
you can make homemade vinegar with apples - i’ve been wanting to do this.
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Yes; I remember making hard cider for awhile! But seriously; it’s not that many apples. Just enough to try something interesting.
oh, well, a jar of vinegar doesn’t need that many apples. actually it only really needs apple scraps!
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Would it be apple cider vinegar or something else?
I can’t recall what I learned, but I remember having a lot of bottling equipment for awhile.
This includes some things I learned about pineapple vinegar.
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