Homemade Applesauce

Start with fresh picked, non sprayed, apples. The apples don't have to look perfect. I used Yellow Transparent.

Wash the apples and cut into quarters or halves depending on their size. You can leave the stem and core if you are going to use a Food Mill to make your sauce. Our local Amish Stores carry Food Mills, but you can also order one online. The Canning Pantry and Lehman's are both good sources for hard to find canning items.

Put 2-3" of water in the bottom of a large stock pot. Put your apples in, cover and cook. Stir every 5-10 minutes because the bottom will scorch easily. Cook until the apples are very soft and beginning to 'mush'.

Run apples through the Mill. You will need a pan for the applesauce and a pan to catch the core and peelings. Large cake pans work great for this. Be careful when you are running the apples through the mill. They are extremely hot and sometimes will splatter.

While the applesauce is warm, add sugar to taste.

Let the sauce cool and put in freezer containers.

1 Bushel of apples will make between 18 and 24 Qt of sauce.
Growing up we would occasionally put red hots in the hot sauce. The red hots create a pretty pink sauce and add a unique flavor.
If you have an over abundance of pears, or like pears better than apples, follow the same process to make pear sauce.