Apple Pie Filling or Chunky Applesauce

A friend of the family gave us a great opportunity to pick apples from his retired parents farm.

Having had this lovely property all of their lives the family really was tired of picking apples.

These organic apple trees were literally being abandoned and he just shoveled the fallen apples into the compost!

So.....my husband and I (and several others) picked apples for free!

Hello.... can't say no to that since I have been paying for them at Apple Farms for years.

Anyway we managed to pick 4 bushels or assorted apples!!!...Mac's, Ida Red, Granny and Red Delicious.

I knew that this was going to be an arduous task that I didn't bother to peel them since they were organic.

The peel has a great deal of pectin in it helping to thicken the batch and it is quite soft when chewing...for your purposes I will give you this easy recipe for smaller batches.

So my daughter and I set about making this huge task and it really didn't take much time at all when we worked together.

I love chunky Apple Sauce but, you can dice this into smaller pieces if you like but...realize they do disintegrate as they cook.

It really satisfies the sweet tooth without the calories!

and

A jar can easily be poured into any pie crust and you have most of the work out of the way...without a runny filling and no other fillers other than apples.

Ingredients:

2 baskets of apples.

1 lemon, halved

water

cinnamon stick

1/2-1 cup sugar

approx. 6-8 1lt canning jars, thoroughly washed or run through the dishwasher.

1. Wash apples, drain.

2. Cut on either side of the apples' stem and then down the other sides and this easily cores the apples.

3. Place into a large bowl 1/2 filled with water. Add the cut and squeezed lemon.

This slows the browning (oxidation) of the apples.

4. Place cut apples into a large pot.

5. Add 1/4 cup of water to prevent scorching.

6. Add 1/2-1 cup of sugar depending on the sweetness/tartness of the apples or to your desire.

7. Add 1 cinnamon stick

8. Turn the burner to medium and stir often to prevent scorching.

As the apples begin to cook they will break and soften releasing liquid.

It will look very shiny.

Stir every few minutes.

Take your time, this is something you do on a day when you are around the kitchen.

Be careful spattering apples are molten hot!

When the apples are completely squishy and the mixture is no longer shiny, they are ready to can.

Remove cinnamon stick.

Ladle into clean jars, clean rim with a damp clean cloth, place 2 piece lids on and tighten jars.

Turn upside down to seal. When the the jars cool they rubber lined lid should be flat and not pop when pressed.

*If any jars do not seal...metal top pops when pressed...place into a large 3/4 water filled pot and boil for 10 min.

This is called a Bain Marie. The lids when cooling will pop closed.*

USES:

Cooked filling can be used as pie filling, strudel or simple delicious apple sauce.