Homemade Applesauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the best apples for making applesauce? ›

The best apples for applesauce are whatever apples you have on hand and need to use up. However, if you have a choice, we recommend using a combination of sweet and tangy varieties for the best flavor. Popular sweet varieties include Honeycrisp and Fuji, while popular tangy varieties include Granny Smith and Braeburn.

Homemade applesauce can be refrigerated for a week to ten days; it can also be frozen or canned for longer-term storage. Mott's recommends its applesauce to be used within ten days of opening. First let me introduce our panel.

Adding sugar to applesauce is optional…. However, lemon juice is not an optional addition. Lemon juice is added to help preserve the apples' natural colour and to assure the acidity of the finished product, since different varieties and harvesting conditions can produce apples of lower acidity.”

Add the apples and apple juice to a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft. Remove from heat and let the apples cool for 5 minutes. Add the apples and their juice to a blender and blend to the desired consistency; serve warm or chilled.

The mellow sweetness of toasted sugar adds complexity. Apple cider vinegar helps brighten cooked fruit. Using skin-on fruit improves both flavor and color in the finished product. Aromatics like cinnamon, orange peel, and rose water intensify the flavor of the apples.

If you leave the skins on, you'll end up with pink applesauce, like mine, if you've used red apples. You'll want to puree the applesauce if you've left the skins on and strain it, otherwise, it can get “stringy” and I don't care for that texture.

Not only does the homemade version taste better, but it's way cheaper, too. We call that a win-win! Making homemade applesauce is a great way to use up that big bag of apples that's been sitting in your fridge for two weeks. (It's okay… we all do it.)

Once frozen and popped out of your Souper Cubes trays, and transferred to freezer bags, it will last up to 6 months in the freezer - even longer if it is vacuum sealed! To thaw, remove the cube of applesauce from the freezer, and place into a bowl.

Applesauce contains antioxidants called phytochemicals. These antioxidants may help to reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Making fresh applesauce using the whole fruit, including the skin, helps to ensure that you get the most antioxidants possible.

If you don't have time to wait for reduction, then the best method is to mix arrowroot or tapioca (or both) with a little bit of apple juice or apple cider. Use the resulting mixture as a thickening agent. Add it to the applesauce and let it stew. Before too long, the sauce will have thickened up nicely!

Can you can applesauce in hot water bath? ›

There's a really good chance you will never buy store-bought applesauce again. Water-bath canning is also a good way to use up those imperfect apples too. Apples are high in acid and have enough natural sugar to preserve well when canned in a water bath. You don't need a pressure canner at all.

You can also pass the sauce through a mesh strainer to separate the skins from the sauce. 7The applesauce will thicken a little as it cools, but if it seems too watery, place the applesauce back into a pot and simmer until reduced a little.

Sometimes we accidentally add too much water to our recipe, or the apples produce more juice than anticipated which leaves us with watery applesauce. Luckily, it is so easy to thicken homemade applesauce. We just need to cook it longer to help the water evaporate.

Many people report that the top of the jar of applesauce gradually turns brown. What is happening is the sauce has not been heated adequately to stop all enzymatic reactions and there is enough oxygen in the headspace to react with the enzymes.

Conversation. What kind of apples does Mott's use for applesauce? a) Golden Delicious.

Gala. A crisp, sweet apple with a mild flavor, Galas have yellow-orange skin with red striping. They're among the best apples for applesauce, salads, eating out-of-hand, and pressing into cider.

McIntosh is a medium-to-large apple with a streaky red blush that has a hint of purple. It's round and a little ribbed. Many small light lenticels decorate the skin. Honeycrisp is huge, a cheerful red just the orange side of a fire truck.

For the best pies, crisps, and other baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to namedrop, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin.