From 3 bags of apples...

From 3 large bags of apples I bought- (about 10 gala apples in each bag), I made apple sauce for that night,  canned 6 jelly jars of apple butter, and 2 quart jars of apple pie slices, plus had a quart of fresh homemade apple juice to drink as a goodie.  I felt productive, made some awesome snacks and had juice to drink it down with! Was wonderful! No wasted apples.

 To make apple butter: Wash the apples ( I use a vinegar and warm water bath combo), peel and slice the apples into pan, fill with water and set on stove med heat to boil.

 Let it cook up until apples nearly mush with the spoon. Strain ( I save the juice to fill apple pie jars later, or for apple jelly, or just to drink! Kids love it!)  I take the strained apples and chop them in my food processor until completely pureed. At this point, I have ready to eat applesauce! You can stop here and can/serve this as is, or you can move on to apple butter!

Return apple sauce to pot, and Stir in 3 Tbsp Cinnamon, 1 tbsp Nutmeg,  (Some people add in cloves -I don't). Taste test at this point- I don't add sugar, apples are really sweet but this is when you add it. 1 cup sugar should be plenty if you do. Put back on stove at  low heat, stirring frequently, and boil down until  it pulls away from edge as you stir -leaving tracing-resembles paste, sticks to spoon like jam would and when you stir it leaves permanent traces in the mix .

Now it's ready for canning or to serve! A fantastic site to use as a resource for canning is http://www.pickyourown.org/   A wealth of information and how to's are provided!

 As an added benefit, this morning I took the left over apple butter and made apple cinnamon leather in the dehydrator! I spread out onto fruit leather tray, and set the dehydrator on 135 degrees, for about 6-8 hours.

 Super yum! Will cut into strips and wrap in parchment paper for snacks!
Yay!! So fun! felt so productive, and have enough to enjoy for a while. Healthy, sugar free, no waste, and loving it!






You may also like the links found in:
Frugal Days Sustainable Ways #73