Comments on: How The Gormans Make Applesauce

By: Recipe Tips (and a video bonus) | How To Cook Like Your Grandmother

Recipe Tips (and a video bonus) | How To Cook Like Your Grandmother — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:23:07 +0000

[...] from Barbara. You might remember her recipes for Mom Gorman’s Hot Rolls or the story of how the Gormans make applesauce. Today she’s got some great sauce/gravy [...]

By: Ilina

Ilina — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:57:48 +0000

I am exhausted just reading that! Amazing.

By: Drew

Drew — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:05:27 +0000

Krystal, I'll answer that last question for Barb. When you can, using either a pressure canner or water bath canner, it's sealed and shelf-stable just like what you buy at the grocery store.

One difference is that most of what's in the store also has preservatives, so it's safe even if it's mis-handled (like getting too hot), and has a shelf life of more than a year. With home canning, you're mostly trying to make it through the winter until you can get more fresh veg.

By: Krystal Wight Armstrong

Krystal Wight Armstrong — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:21:11 +0000

That's really interesting and inspiring, I'd kinda love to be a part of something like that! A shame my husband doesn't like the squooshyness of applesauce.

With so many jars, it looks like they ought to have labels slapped on them, and sold for business. I have a lot of questions. Does each family just take a portion home and eat through them every year? How do you keep them, do they freeze and then just thaw, do they stay on a shelf or in a fridge? I guess I don't know a lot about this, but find it fascinating.

Thanks!

By: Kate in Italy

Kate in Italy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:28:15 +0000

We peeled them and cored them all by hand. We didn't put them in with the peels just because the apples came from the tree in the back yard and even if they're washed you never know how many squirrels pooped on them. Better safe than sorry. You know how it is… hahaha

By: sheila

sheila — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:29:52 +0000

Peel here because we like chunky applesauce. I sit and peel them in the evening while watching TV. Painless that way. I can do a half bushel with no problem in an hour or so. Makes a canner full a day that way. I'll be on my 3rd batch tonight and that should be enough for this winter. Apple butter next. Then the apples will be gone. Winter squash next. I'm going to try my hand at pumpkin butter. Squash is interchangeable with pumpkin as far as I'm concerned. I actually like butternut squash better than pumpkin.

By: Becca

Becca — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:35:34 +0000

I make my own applesauce, but then again it is just the two of us. We peel and core and chop enough apples to fill a crock pot. Add 2 cinnamon sticks and put it on low. Let it cook down and then throw it in the freezer. No muss, no fuss, no bother. I really like a mix of jonagolds and granny smith.

By: Kristin @ Going Country

Kristin @ Going Country — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:23:59 +0000

My dad remembers his mother and the neighbors all gathering to peel and core (no food mill) apples for applesauce. I've never done any food prep with anyone except my mother-in-law. But it's really easier for one person to work alone in our kitchen if a lot of moving around is required, as it is for canning, because our kitchen is cramped.

By: Drew

Drew — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:27:14 +0000

You'd peel them? Wow. I've been to a few apple festivals and they always put them in the pot with peels. I hope you had some kind of gadget and weren't just doing them by hand.

By: Kate in Italy

Kate in Italy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:20:50 +0000

This is EXACTLY like making Apple Butter at my Grandma's house in Estacada, Oregon. We grandkids go to work peelin' apples while my grandma sterilizes jars. Grandpa usually gets a good butt whoopin' from using what my grandma calls his 'Shovel Fingers'. Now my grandma sends me jars of Apple Butter in the mail for my birthday ans Christmas because she says that life just isn't the same without grandma's home made love on toast. I couldn't agree more.