Once a year we get a truck that delivers farm fresh chicken to our area. I got another box and did my usual freeze half, can half. The only thing I did different this year was to not do any quarts and to top off the jars with some water. I also had a huge bag of apples sitting on my kitchen floor going bad that needed to be attended too. I have a friend that has several apple trees and is kind enough to let me get apples. This year her trees didn't produce much, but her sisters land had a full bounty that was just going to waste. The day that I was supposed to go pick apples with my friend and neighbor, Kim something else had come up and I wasn't able to go. She was kind enough to bring a bunch home for me and then they just sat there for a week. Well, what do you do when you are babysitting chicken in the pressure canner? You make apple butter and applesauce. Making the apple butter is super easy, see pics below.
All you do is throw all the ingredients into the crockpot. Set it to high for 1 hour then turn it to low for 6 hours or so, until the apples become translucent. Then you uncover and let cook for 1 hour more. The recipe called for whisking at this point to get the apple butter consistency that you want, but I got nowhere with that approach so I just whipped out my handy hand blender. The first batch I made I did it freezer style. The second time I made it with my MIL we hot water bathed them. I like this much better because I just hate taking up freezer space. The applesauce is a much more time intense endeavor though. 5lbs of apples only yield about 2 1/2 pints. I also did not have a food mill when I tried it out for the first time because I wasn't even sure I would like it. When I discovered how yummy it was and that my family loved it and ate a pint per sitting, I was going to need a better process, so I ordered myself a food mill. I will say that even with a food mill it is going to take some time if you do the recipe that I do where I leave on the skins. Call me old fashion and a glutton for punishment, but I think it gives the best flavor to leave them on. Here is my recipe....I combined a couple that I found on the internet and added my own twist. I also double and tripled the recipe and it cooks down just fine, you will just need a big canning pot to do the job.
Quarter and core (you don't have to core if you have a food mill, but I do anyway)
measure out 5lbs
Throw into a big pot
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup good apple cider
3-4 sticks cinnamon (get a big jar from a warehouse store for much cheaper)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp pure vanilla
Let it cook down until the apples are very soft and a bit mushy
Use a slotted spoon to lift the apples out and either push through a mesh strainer or use a food mill. The skins wont go through either method so just discard them. Depending on how much liquid your apples produce or how much cooks off will depend on how much extra liquid you have left over. I didn't have a bunch but I did have some liquid left in all the batches that I made....I did several more after those pictured above. Basically get the applesauce to the consistency that you like it. Keep another pot on the stove set to low to keep the strained apples warm for the canning process. Getting all the apples processed will take a bit of time. Then hot water bathe them for 20 minutes and put them on the shelf. If it's like at my house they wont be there very long. I ended up doing mostly quarts after this because of how quickly a pint goes at my house. Sorry I didn't think to take any pictures of that process. I'm sure I will be making it again and there are plenty of other peoples pics to look at on the great big web world.
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