Huge Batch of Applesauce

I had a mountain of apples to can last week and kept putting it off because it was a huge job.  It was just about 100 pounds altogether.

We started at 5PM and all the girls were helping. 

This was our most common set-up: 2 youngest washed and passed apples to me, I cut apples and filled pots, 2 oldest took turns grinding apples as each pot was soft enough.

The two youngest also filled the dishwasher with jars to be sanitized.  One unloaded the jars from a box and rolled them to her sister to be put into the dishwasher.  They were having a great time.

Even a 4 year old can make applesauce!  She was so excited to be up so late!  This was about 9:30 pm.  They were such good little helpers I let them stay up as long as they kept a good attitude. 

We listened to worship, the Frozen soundtrack, and classical hits while we worked.  One girlie took a round of photos.  Here I am in a rare photo appearance. 

My kitchen is a huge mess after canning this much applesauce.  This is the trivet where the hot pots of cooked apples sit while being loaded into the grinder.

This is one burner on my poor stove.  The apple juices just make a huge mess.  Bleh.

But the finished product is always pretty impressive.  We made 42 quarts! 

Our total for the year is now just over 100 quarts.  We went through that by February last year so I'm hoping to get to make even more - depends on if I get any more apples for free or affordable enough.

Love, Katie