Applesauce!

Last week I got a message from my friend, Emily, asking if we were interested in free apples.  Of course the answer was YES!  Her husband's 86 year old grandma had a huge yield from her apple trees and was sorry to see fruit going to waste.  I am so thankful Emily thought of me!  We were out of town camping, but she dropped off 4 big paper bags of apples and I canned them last night since they were starting to get overripe.

DH put the apples downstairs where it's cooler to await my arrival and their squishy doom

The apples appear to be in sorry shape.  These are washed in the sink.

Inside an average apple. The apples got better after the first bag.

Apples ready to boil.  I left some bruising, but cut off a lot, too.

You can see a lot of bruises went into the 'yuck bucket'

Mid-canning set up from left: Hot sauce, sealed jars, canner, raw apples (on deck for cooking burner), seals & rings in small lidded pot, cooking apples with round cookie sheet on top, cutting station with washed apples in white tub.

The kitchen gets soooooo gross. My poor KitchenAid.  Other sink empty for washing apples.

33 Quarts - Done!  I used recycled lids on these which is a big canning no-no, but everything sealed so I feel OK about it.  

I also put 2 quarts in the fridge for the next few days so I didn't waste seals.

Thanks again, Emily!

Katie