Several weeks ago (oh, wow, I think it might have been October!) I wrote about our family visit to Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville. While there, I purchased a bushel of apples, two kinds, Pinova and Golden Delicious. And today I finally got around to making applesauce!
With my pressure cooker, it was pretty quick and easy. I decided to can my sauce, for future use, so that step took a little longer. It was also a great time to experiment, as I had loads of apples and so I tried out a couple different things – different amounts of liquid in the pressure cooker and different cooking times. I felt almost like one of the recipe testers at Cooks Illustrated.
The basic recipe was this:
Applesauce
- 20 apples, cored and cut into chunks (yes, I did use my apple corer/slicer for this!)
- 1/2 cup water (you could also use apple juice)
Apples and water went into the pressure cooker. I attached the lid and put it on the stove on medium-high heat. When the steam started to come out, I locked the cooker lid, and when it started to make that pressure cooker noise, I set the timer for 4 minutes.
After the time was up, I removed the pan to the sink and ran cold water over the top. When the pressure was released, I opened the lid and removed the apple sauce to the food mill into a clean pot. To the clean pot, I added:
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
And I cooked this mixture another 15-20 minutes, on a low boil, until sauce started to thicken. And into the hot jars it went.
My kids are happy with the texture of this sauce, and while it is not as thick as my past versions, the consistency seems more in line with jarred sauce. It would be great as an accompaniment to pork chops, or as an afternoon snack. And with the pressure cooker, it was easy to pull this together in less than an hour.
3 Comments
We use a slow cooker for applesause. The results are fantastic, but take a bit longer than your method. We don’t have a pressure cooker. Do you find it essential?
Twitter: kitchengirl
no, absolutely not. I asked my Dad for a pressure cooker a couple years ago and it has been sitting in the garage gathering dust, and being Kitchen Gadget Girl, and seeing as how I had lots of apples, I wanted to use a gadget to make it all go faster. I think a slow cooker would be a fine way to make applesauce!
I spent many a day picking up all the “granny-apples” from our tree in the backyard and watching my mom make apple pie, apple sauce, and “cinnamon” applesauce, where she would put “red hots” candy in while mixing it up and canning it “red”.