Homemade Applesauce

lemon juice, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel (not pictured: salt and water)



Everyone has their variation on applesauce and they don’t differ all that drastically. I liked that Elise’s applesauce had salt and lemon juice, because sweet without acid or salt can taste incredibly flat. I used a combination of organic Fuji apples and Granny Smiths. I love me a tart apple.

piling the apple quarters into the saucepan
adding the rest of the ingredients


I used a pot that was barely big enough to fit all of the apples, but refused to switch out and create yet another dirty dish (that day was rife with dirty dishes). Instead, I let the apples simmer and I used a wooden spoon to gently push the pieces on the top down into the pot as the lower ones cooked and broke down. Worked just fine.

after the apples have cooked, remove the cinnamon and lemon peel
mash to desired consistency

chunky is where it’s at


Anyone who has tasted homemade applesauce knows that it is worlds apart from store-bought applesauce. When you tell this to people in the know they always react with a “duh!”, but people who don’t know have no way to comprehend what they are missing. I served my homemade applesauce with some pork loin chops because of a Brady Bunch episode back in the day. I think Peter was trying to imitate Bogart and asked Alice what was for dinner. She declared, “Pork chops and applesauce!” Peter then replies, “Pork chopsh… and appleshaush. That’sh shwell.” Don’t get me started on how screwy the 70s were. The combination of grilled pork and homemade applesauce however, is golden.

pork chops and applesauce… that’s swell

Homemade Applesauce
from Simply Recipes 3-4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (use a good cooking apple: Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
4 strips of lemon peel
lemon, juice of (3-4 tbsps)
3-inch cinnamon stick
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar (approximately – depending on how sweet you want it and how sweet the apples are)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
Place everything in a large pot (one large enough to hold all of the apple quarters… ahem) over high heat. Cover the pot and let the contents come to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon peels before mashing the apples with a potato masher. I prefer mine to be chunky, so I don’t go crazy mashing the apples. Serve hot or cold.