Chunky Applesauce

THIS IS MOSTLY JUST FOR MY OWN RECORDS, SO THAT I CAN STOP CALLING MY MOM TO ASK HER HOW TO DO IT.

From the kitchen of:  Reesa Boren (Katie's Mom)

INGREDIENTS:

• Mixture of apples (I have tart McIntosh apples, and Gala - simply to make the batch bigger)

• Little bit of water

• Sprinkle of salt

• Sugar to taste (Blue Book suggests 1/4 C per pound of apples)

• Spices to taste (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice?)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Peel and core apples into chunks and soak in salt water to keep them from turning brown.

2. Rinse the apple chunks to get the salt water off and put into a heavy pot.

3. Add a small amount of water just to keep things from burning (more water will be drawn out of the apples by the sugar as it cooks)

4. Add sugar and salt to taste.

5. Bring to a boil and cook down until tender (about 30 minutes) - stir often and keep it not so hot that it burns.

6. Blue Book says not to add the spices until about 5 minutes from the end of cooking time.

7. I suppose you could blend it if you wanted smoother applesauce - I don't mind it a little bit chunky, although I did use a potato masher to try to mush up the biggest chunks.

8. This can be bottled:

   1. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

   2. Remove bubbles and add two piece caps.

   3. Process 20 min.

MAKES: Depends on the amount you start with! I got 6 pints of sauce plus a enough for our dinner from filling an 8 qrt. pot with apple chunks.