Description
A simply amazing no sugar added sauce made from apples and pears that is so perfectly tart sweet you’ll want some for snack or dessert every day!
Ingredients
Applesauce
- 10lb apples and pears (as great as variety as possible! I recommend fuji, honeycrisp, pink lady, golden delicious, ambrosia and for pears Bosc, Asian and Bartlett)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup fresh squeezed 100% orange juice (can sub water)
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Equipment
canner, tongs, sterilized pint-sized glass jars, lids and rims
Instructions
Core, peel and chop apples into roughly same-sized chunks. Place in an 8 quart (or larger) stockpot or dutch oven. Add lemon and orange juices and all spices. Toss to coat.
Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low (while maintaining a simmer) and cover with lid. Let cook down for 2-3 hours or until apples and pears are very soft. Using an immersion blender, blend apples and pears into a sauce that is very smooth. Alternatively, you can transfer mixture to a regular blender to blend. If you like a chunky sauce, simply mash with a potato masher.
Ladle sauce into sterilized jars, leaving about 1/4 inch space at the top. Place on lids, wipe the rims and then securely fasten rims to the jars as tightly as you can. Place jars in a water bath canner for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let canner settle for 10 minutes. Remove jars with tongs and carefully set on a towel. Let sit and you should hear each jar “pop” and seal within several hours. Store in a cool, dry location and refrigerate after you open each jar.
Use these as gifts, in a harvest exchange or keep them stockpiled for a year of tasty applesauce!
Notes
You can use all apples instead of a mix of apples and pears if you prefer.
I find the best flavor comes when you use a mix of different varieties of apples and pears.
If you do not want to can your jars, leave about 1 inch of space at the top and keep them in the freezer for up to 6 months.