12 Pounds of Apples

How disappointing that 12 pounds of apples only got me 3 quarts of applesauce. But it is good, vintage Virginia applesauce. About a week ago we made our annual trek to the Virginia Vintage Apple Fest. This is our fifth year going and each year it has gotten bigger. I think five years ago there weren't more than 50 people. This year there must have been ten times that.

But one thing hasn't changed: lots of delicious vintage apples and the best hayride.

We bought almost 40 pounds of apples -- Albemarle Pippin, Black Twig, Winesap, Virginia Gold, and Granny Smith. Tonight I randomly picked apples to make 12 pounds and washed them in water with a little white vinegar. Big J and little j used the apple peeler-corer to prep the apples then I put them on the stove to cook until soft.

After the apples softened up I ran them through the Kitchen Aid food mill attachment (a wonderful invention, by the way) and ended up with a pot full of perfectly textured applesauce.

I added 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 cup of natural unrefined sugar, and a couple tablespoons of cinnamon. I ladled the sauce into jars and processed them for 20 minutes.

And there you have it, 3 quarts of vintage applesauce. Delicious! Next up: apple butter.