Homemade Applesauce - With Canning Tutorial

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that one of the biggest ways I save our family money is by growing and preserving our own food. Not only does it ensure that we’re getting the most bang for our buck, but it also keeps out pesky preservatives and additives, which both Monkey and I have had allergic reactions too.

Homemade applesauce is hands down one of our family favorites. Whether its on top of Lady Bug’s morning cottage cheese, packed in Monkey’s lunchbox as his fruit, or used as an ingredient in our pancakes, applesauce is something that stretches far in our household. But why continue to buy it, with added sugars and preservatives, when it’s so simple, and frugal, to make yourself!

What You’ll Need:

Here’s a list of what you’ll need for making and canning your own applesauce.

~ Apples
~ Large bowl to wash the apples in
~ Cutting Board
~ Potato peeler, or this Pro-Apple Peeler*
~ Knife
~ Waterbath Canning Kit — I’ve had this one* since 2010. It’s been through hell and back, including being dropped on my deck, and it’s still kicking! The canner itself holds up to 7 quarts, or 9 pints, and is a breeze to use. Plus, it comes with other items you’ll need, like the headspace tool, jar lifter and funnel, without having to purchase them separately.
~ Canning Jars with Lids and Rings*
~ 12-Quart Stock Pot*
~ Blender or Immersion Blender*
~ Ladle
~ Damp cloth for wiping the jar rim
~ Towels
~ Brown Sugar {optional}
~ Cinnamon {optional}

Gather Your Apples

I like to get a few bushels at a time because this really does go fast. Depending on where you get them, they can be really inexpensive. If you’ve got your own apple trees, you’ve got the cheapest apples of all! I have three antique apple trees, and they don’t like to produce a whole lot. Hubs’ parents on the other hand, have about 10 trees that produce like crazy depending on the year.

If you don’t have your own trees, try a local orchard. The average price near me is around $15-$18 per bushel. If you don’t mind drops, or apples that have fallen from the tree before they could be picked, you can get them as low as $10/bushel. That’s as low as $0.25 per pound! You can’t get apples at the grocery store for that price.

I recommend mixing different types of apples to get the best flavor. The apples I used for this batch were from Hubs’ parents, and are a mix of Macintosh, Cortland and Jonagold. You could also use Red Delicious, Yellow Delicious, Empires, or whatever you have available. I’m really not picky on what apples I will use, but I absolutely will not use Honey Crisp. They’re too expensive for me to justify using them in applesauce. Besides, their sweet, crisp flavor fares much better as eating apples in our house.

Wash, Peel & Chop!

Wash your apples to get them clean. I throw a whole bunch in a huge stainless steel bowl my mother-in-law gave me. It makes for easy wash jobs.

Once upon a time, I did all the peeling with our handheld potato peeler. It took forever. But it got the job done. Then last year, my my mother-in-law got me a Pro-Apple Peeler*. {Can you see a trend here? She did a LOT of home preserving as well, and she certainly knows what makes the it easier!} I’ve got to tell you, that peeler certainly makes the job go a lot faster!

Don’t throw out those peels though! You can use them to make Apple Peel Jelly!

I prefer to chop the flesh away from the core rather than through the core. Yeah, it’s a little more work now, but I wont have to strain it to remove seeds later. I also chop the apple into roughly 1 inch pieces. If they’re a little larger or smaller they’ll cook down just the same.

Toss your apples into a large pot. I like to use my 12-quart pot* for this job because I can get more done at one time. It can fit approximately 16-20 pounds of apples, depending on their size, which is about 7 quarts, or a canner full, worth of sauce.

You can pretreat them with a lemon juice water bath, but I don’t bother. A little oxidation on my apples doesn’t hurt. Besides, once it cooks down, you won’t be able to tell.

Add Water & Cook

Add enough water to your pot so the apples don’t stick, about an inch on the bottom will do. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the apples are softened and cooked down. The time it takes will depend on the water content of the apples, but after 20 minutes or so of cooking, your apples should be soft enough to move on.

Puree

Puree apples until they’re the desired consistency. I like a smoother applesauce, while Bookworm likes it a little thicker. For this job, I absolutely love using my immersion blender*. It makes jobs like this a breeze. If you don’t have one, you can transfer your sauce to a blender, and puree in batches. Be very careful though; it’s hot, and will burn you if it splatters out.

I prefer to leave our applesauce unsweetened. I find that depending on the mix of your apples, the sauce is plenty sweet. If you prefer a sweeter sauce, just add granulated white sugar to taste.

The kids, however, prefer an applesauce that has some brown sugar and cinnamon. Those batches go the fastest in our house. To make cinnamon applesauce, I add about 1 cup brown sugar and a tablespoon or two of cinnamon. We prefer things extra cinnamon-y here, so adjust to your taste.

Can Your Sauce

As your applesauce is cooking down, you’ll want to prep your canner and jars. I prefer to fill my canner and let it sit on high heat while I peel and prep the apples, that way I’m not waiting on the pot to boil.

Wash your jars, lids, and rings with hot soapy water.

Fill the jars with boiling water, and sit on the rack of your canning jar to remain hot while the applesauce cooks down. Put your lids in a bowl of hot water to help soften the seals. As of recently, this isn’t a necessary step, but it does help the lid seal easier.

Working one jar at at time, fill each jar with applesauce using a funnel. You’ll want to fill the jar until there is 1/2″ headspace. Headspace is simply the distance between the rim of the jar and the contents of the jar.

Remove any air bubbles with the headspace tool, and wipe the rim with a damp cloth. This ensures that there is no food on the rim that may impede the seal. Using the magnetic lid lifter, add the lids, and tighten with a ring until finger-tip tight.

Add the jar to your canner, and repeat for the remaining jars.

Once your jars are filled, lower the canning rack into the canner. Put the lid on, and bring to a full boil. Once at a full boil, process pints and quarts for 20 minutes. If you are above 1,000 feet in elevation, be sure to adjust your time for your altitude. To adjust your processing time, increase your time by 5 minutes. For example, our altitude is 1,350 feet, so I process my applesauce for 25 minutes. If you were above 3,000 feet, you would process for 30 minutes, above 6,000 feet, you would process for 35 minutes, etc. This helps compensate for the difference in boiling temperature and air pressure at higher elevations compared to sea level.

When your processing time is done, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Allow the jars to sit for 5 minutes before you remove them from the canner. Let them sit undisturbed for 12 hours, then check the seal. To do this, push down in the center of the lid. If your lid is sealed, it should not give, or “pop”. To store, remove rings, label and store in a cool place until ready for use.

If your lid did give, or “pop”, you can either reprocess your jar with a new lid, or store in the fridge to eat with the next week.

But Is It Cost Effective?

So is going through all the effort of homemade applesauce really worth it? As someone who has allergies to presevatives, my answer is yes. But I am also willing to pay a little more to avoid having any allergic reactions. But what if you’re not willing, and you want to make the most of your money?

If I buy a bushel of apples for $15, that’s about $0.38/pound {a bushel of apples weighs 40 pounds}. It takes roughly 3 pounds of apples to make a quart of applesauce, meaning that each quart of homemade applesauce costs approximately $1.14. Since a serving of applesauce is 4oz {and a quart holds 32oz}, a serving of homemade applesauce costs $0.14! Compare that to a 6 pack of store bought applesauce, with added sugar and preservatives, to cost $0.40 per serving {in my area, these 6 packs cost $2.39 each}.

Just one bushel of apples can yield you approximately 13 quarts. So for $15, you’ve got roughly 104 servings of applesauce. If you bought enough 6 packs to make that amount, you’d wind up spending almost $42! That’s a savings of almost $27 that can go do your bank account, or your debt!