How to Can Applesauce
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It’s an off year for our apples. On our little hobby farm, we have about 10 mature apple trees that produce enough apples to last us much longer than winter. This year, the early season apple trees are the ones that are producing rather than the late autumn apples. We will have one tree that produces some delicious sweet red-skinned apples in September and October. For now, it is the season of the Yellow Transparent apple, which begins to ripen for use in mid to late July.
This is a more sour-tasting and soft apple, which makes it great for making applesauce. I absolutely love canning applesauce. It is a beloved treat for my children, and we enjoy eating canned applesauce all winter long. Just within the past week we have canned over 50 pints of applesauce!
In this step-by-step applesauce canning guide, I hope to showcase how easy it is to make applesauce at home. Whether you plan to can it, freeze it, or simply enjoy it for fresh eating you will love this recipe.
We recently decided to invest in a food mill, and I cannot believe that we never used one before! It makes preserving applesauce so much easier. Rather than peeling and de-seeding the apples, I can just chop them all up into chunks and run them through the mill. It’s magic! This method will also color your applesauce with whatever the color of the skins are. For instance, if you are canning red apples, your sauce will turn pink!
how to can applesauce:
While your applesauce is cooking, prepare your hot water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings. Wash and sterilize jars and simmer gently until they are ready to be filled.
With the applesauce still simmering, fill a hot jar with hot applesauce leaving 1/2 inch headspace in the jar. Press out any air bubbles and adjust headspace as necessary. Apply the lid and ring to fingertip tight. Place the jar back in the canning pot. Repeat with the remaining jars.
Once all of the jars are filled, process pint jars for 15 minutes or quart jars for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and let the jars sit in the hot water for 5 more minutes. Place on the countertop to cool and seal. After 12 hours, check the seals and store the jars in a dark, dry place without the rings.
Canned applesauce should last for about 12-18 months.
how to freeze applesauce:
Once the applesauce has been cooked to your likeness, it can be frozen immediately. Choose freezer safe container such as a straight sided Ball® jar, like the the wide mouth pints or wide mouth quarts, or the Ball® plastic Freezer Containers.
Fill the applesauce to the freezer safe line and seal with an airtight lid. Store in the freezer for 12 months or longer.
To thaw, simply place it in the refrigerator and allow it to defrost. Stir up any separation in the sauce and serve chilled.
final thoughts:
For applesauce making, you can decide whether or not you want to sweeten the sauce. How nice is that? I do enjoy some sugar in my applesauce, but I also enjoy making unsweetened sauce for baking. You can read more about the different sweetener options in the printable recipe below.
I hope that you enjoyed learning more about how to can applesauce.
xoxo Kayla
Sweetened or Unsweetened Applesauce
Ingredients
- 12 pounds of apples, about 60 medium apples
- Water or apple cider, enough to cover the apples
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) bottled lemon juice
- 3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar, optional
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon, optional
Instructions
- Wash apples, remove stems, and cut them into rough chunks. Toss in a large stockpot and cover with the water or apple cider and lemon juice.
- Place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally as the apples break down and become soft, about 10 minutes. Once the apples are softened, transfer batches of apples to a food mill. Run the apples through the food mill, removing the skins and seeds.
- Stir in the sugar and cinnamon to the applesauce, as much as you prefer. Heat to boiling and let boil until thickened slightly, about 2-4 minutes.
- Serve warm or chilled. Read below for methods to preserve your applesauce.
- Instead of using granulated sugar, applesauce can be made with different types of sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup. Simply replace the granulated sugar 1:1. Applesauce can also be made with less sugar or without any sugar at all! Adjust the amount of sugar to your liking.
- If you would like to spice things up, replace the cinnamon with allspice, nutmeg, or ginger. The amount of spice for this recipe should be around 4 teaspoons of any combination of spices.
- While your applesauce is cooking, prepare your hot water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings. Wash and sterilize jars and simmer gently until they are ready to be filled.
- With the applesauce still simmering, fill a hot jar with hot applesauce leaving 1/2-inch headspace in the jar. Press out any air bubbles and adjust headspace as necessary. Apply the lid and ring to fingertip tight. Place the jar back in the canning pot. Repeat with the remaining jars.
- Once all of the jars are filled, process pint jars for 15 minutes or quart jars for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and let the jars sit in the hot water for 5 more minutes. Place on the countertop to cool and seal. After 12 hours, check the seals and store the jars in a dark, dry place without the rings.
- Canned applesauce should last for about 12-18 months.
- Once the applesauce has been cooked to your likeness, it can be frozen immediately. Choose freezer safe container such as a straight sided Ball® jar, like the the wide mouth pints or wide mouth quarts, or the Ball® plastic Freezer Containers.
- Fill the applesauce to the freezer safe line and seal with an airtight lid. Store in the freezer for 12 months or longer.
- To thaw, simply place it in the refrigerator and allow it to defrost. Stir up any separation in the sauce and serve chilled.
