Homemade Applesauce!

Recently I blogged about being so excited to find Transparent apples at Small's Fruit Farm in the Loess Hills on our anniversary trip (they're hard to find).  We kind of went to a lot of trouble to bring a bag of them home keeping them cool in a cooler since it was 100 degree days, and we were making stops.  This week I made them into applesauce - my first time ever to try making it!  


Grandpa & Grandma R.'s apple trees at their house were transparents.  I loved to climb those trees and spent hours up in them.  I also loved Grandma's applesauce that she made every summer from the apples.  Luckily at some point I had asked Grandma how she made it and wrote it on a recipe card.  

 
All you do is peel the apples and cut them into chunks.  Add 1 cup of water and cook slow, stirring some.  I had noted that she said Jonathan and Stamen apples also make good applesauce but NOT Lodi.  Depending on the apples, you might have to smash them after cooking to get it smooth or you can leave it a little chunky.  She added about 1/2 c. sugar per 1 qt. of applesauce.

As it was cooking, I remembered that smell too!

It was so exciting to see it start looking like applesauce - and not sticking!  And then when I tasted it - YES, it was the same!!  Yum!  Very creamy. 


Grandma froze hers in plastic containers - in pints I think.  It was always good to eat when it was just barely thawed and still really cold - sometimes with a little cinnamon.


Mom told me that she has a transparent tree.  I might have to visit next year when the apples are ready!