Lise's Cinnamon Applesauce & Watermelon

I made applesauce today...my first time!...we have so many apples there will be lots of apple preservation happening over the next few days.  I followed the basic steps for canning applesauce with my own twist:)

Lise's Cinnamon Applesauce

Ingredients:

10 lbs apples
Raw cane sugar
Cinnamon





The amounts will vary with your taste preferences...I tell you what I did...

Directions:

Wash the apples.

Core, peel and take out any bad spots.  This is the most time consuming and difficult part of this process when using the old fashioned tools like a hand corer, peeler and knife...I'm convinced a nice all-in-one devise that will do it all would be a wise investment!

As you chop them into pieces, put them into a bowl with a little lemon juice to help keep them from browning.

Put them into a pot with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pot.  Simmer until softened.  I had a variety of apples, so some took longer to soften.  This could take 15 - 30 minutes.

I wanted to use my pestle and cone strainer to mash the apples...

 ...which worked so well it made the applesauce like baby food...we like ours a little thicker...

 ...and it left a lot of apple that I wanted to use.

So I put everything back into the pot and used my immersion blender to get the apples to the consistency we like with just a few chunks of apple remaining...

  ...you can the difference in the consistency from what the strainer made...

 

Bring the applesauce back to a boil, and add the cinnamon and sugar.  I added a total of 1 tbsp of cinnamon and 2 palm fulls of the raw cane sugar, tasting it as I went along.  Sorry, forgot pictures of this step.  After the mixture has come to a boil, pour it into your sterilized, warm mason jars...I love this little canning funnel, makes the job so much easier.  Place the seal and the ring onto the jars...   

...and boil them in a covered water bath for 20 minutes.

Once they have processed, remove them from the bath to cool.  This jar grabber is another great tool!

This applesauce is not too sweet and has a lovely background flavor of cinnamon.  Good stuff!

I wanted to tell you about our watermelon harvest today.  Along with another basket of beans, we debated harvesting them because they looked like they weren't growing any more.  So we opened one up and ate it right there in the garden...it was surprisingly sweet and delicious!

We harvested the other two...

...and though they looked pink like the ones in the garden, they weren't nearly as good...

...we did save the seeds and will plant them again next year...we'll just start them earlier.

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise