The Orchard Cottage apples are finally ripe enough for picking. I’m overwhelmed by the bounty, and couldn’t resist picking as many as I could fit into my garden geek basket (courtesy of Tim, who is ace at picking out birthday presents).
I decided to turn the glut into applesauce, one of my favorite things to make now that I have a food mill. No peeling or coring required! And as Claire points out on Food Junta, applesauce is a great way to turn otherwise sub-par apples into something spectacular. Not that our orchard apples are sub-par – they are the best apples in the world, albeit a little tart yet (a good excuse to make crumble and pie).
Here is the recipe I use for applesauce, courtesy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Applesauce
salt
Fill your biggest pot with about 1/2 inch of water and a generous pinch of salt.
Halve or quarter the apples and put them in the pot.
Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Uncover, turn down heat to medium, and let simmer, stirring/mashing occasionally, until apples reach desired consistency. This should take about half an hour.
Let it cool down a bit until its cool enough to handle. Put the whole lot through a food mill. Eat some now, store the rest in the freezer.
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