Is canning hard?

[Ice Cream]

I buy "eating" apples (the good ones) and "sauce apples" (the cheap ones). Apples are crazy expensive this year though!!!

Same here.

[diablita]

They're expensive and not that good, sadly.  I'm near one of the best apple growing areas in the country (Hendersonville, NC) and our apple season was not so hot.

What kind of apples do you like for the sauce?

[Run Amok]

That's interesting. We had a GREAT year for apples but, sadly, many of them were left on the trees to rot because the farmers couldn't find anyone to pick them thanks to recent immigation reform changes that challenged the migrant workforce.

Anyway... I've had good luck with just about any apple for sauce. I find that like the ones that have a bit of tartness to them for sauce as well as eating- they just have more flavor. Godlen delicious tend to be cheap, tasty, and have thinner skins (I leave the skins on to increaes the fiber and because I like a chunkier sauce). But, I really go with whatever is cheapest.

[Eco Ellen]

I really want to make applesauce but we keep eating all the apples 

  This doesn't happen to me because of my allergy.  But the kids do eat apples ....

[diablita]

Ellen, sorry about the allergy.  I have a good friend who's allergic to garlic.  poor thing.   

[Eco Ellen]

I bought many pounds of Apples today. I hope my peeler thing comes tomorrow before the storm.

[diablita]

ellen-shana, did your apple peeler arrive?

I think we're going to make the applesauce today

[diablita]

apple sauce is fab!  I halved the recipe posted by RA (also no raisins).  I also used the stick blender a bit to smooth it out some. 

[Eco Ellen]

It didn't arrive! It got delayed by Snowcapolypse.

I have a kajillion pounds of apples and I'm waiting for my gizmo. Hopefully Monday.

[Eco Ellen]

I used the stik blender too. I like to make it smooth.   What did your daughter think?

[diablita]

She LOVED it. 

I let her do some of the stirring so 'we' made it and that always helps.  I often let her help me cook (she takes a 'cooking with teacher' class occasionally at the JCC and is a good help) but she was too busy watching My Little Ponies to do the rest of the work.

I also mixed some in with a bit of 2% Fage (the way RA does) this afternoon so that she'd get a mix of protein + the applesauce and she gobbled it up.