The counter was covered in bags and boxes of apples, plus we had 4 garbage bags full on our kitchen floor!
We sorted them- small, medium, large. Large apples were used to make applesauce and apple pie filling. Medium apples kept for eating. Small ones for juicing.
Here are JoJo and I with a corer, peeler, slicer. We borrowed this from my Aunt Julie, after we cleaned her apple tree clean (thanks Julie)! It was so easy to use that JoJo did an entire bowl of apples all by herself.
Once we turned the apples into slinkies, I diced them and let them hang out in lemon water until the were ready to cook.
Applesauce is super easy and I don't really use a recipe. I just let the apples simmer with cinnamon sticks until they were soft enough to mash. I drained most of the water and added salt, lemon, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
After mixing and tasting to our satisfaction, we funneled the warm, yummy sauce into freshly boiled jars. We wiped the rims clean, screwed on the lids, and let them steam in my mom's canner for 20 minutes.
We made some chunky and some smooth, but it is all delicious!
We had many, many apple juice making sessions. The kiddos had fun taking turns with the masticating juicer.
We had to make sure to keep everything hot and clean. The apple juice we heated to 160 degrees and put them directly into hot jars to keep bacteria from entering. Then into the canner for a 30 minute steam bath. I love when you take six jars out of the bath and you hear six perfect "pop"s when they come out! That way you know they sealed.
Our first batch of juice we didn't strain and you can see it's pretty thick. Our third batch of juice we strained twice and it started resembling the consistency of normal apple juice.
The great thing too is all those apple peels, cores, and fibers feed the chickens and keep them happy. Don't you love when nothing goes to waste?
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