Super Easy Applesauce Recipe
One of the most effective methods of long term food storage is Canning. The best way to preserve apples is by making applesauce. Here is an easy applesauce recipe along with directions for canning it afterwords.
1. Thoroughly wash the apples.
2. Boil them until soft in a pot with several inches of water in the bottom.
3. Process the apples using a food strainer to make the applesauce. You can do this by hand, of course, by peeling, coring, and mashing the apples. The food strainer does all of this for you at once, delivering applesauce out the other end.
4. Fill the glass jars one cup at a time since it will be hot and could cause breakage if you fill them too fast.
5. Put the lids on the jars and twist the rings to finger tightness. Do not over tighten.
6. Put the jars in hot tap water and bring to a boil. Placing them right in boiling water may cause them to break. We have our water level just below the rings. Others like to cover the lids, and some people only fill the canner to about halfway up the jar.
7. We boil the jars for 20 minutes plus two for each thousand feet of elevation. In other words, if your at a thousand feet elevation, you would boil the jars for about twenty two minutes.
8. Take the jars out of the canner, and place them on a towel. Wait for about twelve hours before testing the seals. Lids should flex up and down when pressed gently in the center.
9. After twenty four hours, we remove the rings and clean the rings, lids and jars to get rid of any fruit residue which sometimes leaks out during canning. If you don’t do this, any residue left on the jar can mold, which can then migrate into the jar, breaking the seal and ruining the applesauce.
And lastly, don’t store the jars on top of each other. Doing this can cause the seals on the bottom jar to fail.
Oh yeah, we don’t add sugar to our applesauce either. We find that it tastes great with just what’s in the apples.
Looking for more helpful information and resources for long term food storage? You’ll find articles on food preservation techniques, tools and more at http://www.longtermfoodstorage.org
