Chunky Applesauce

Last week I received a phone call asking if I would like a box of apples. Well, what could I say? Of course I would like a box of apples! We go through so many apples in our house; we could handle a box of apples, right?

This box was not your standard box of apples. I have seen boxes of apples at the farmers market, but this box was so large it was in a league all of its own. Oh my. I don't have room to store that many apples! What to do with all the apples?

In the end, I decided it must be time to make applesauce. I don't have any fancy applesauce making equipment. I have a vegetable peeler, a knife and stock pots. What else do you need?

I set to work peeling, coring and slicing apples. Fuji, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious flew threw my hands. After a generous dumping of cinnamon and some mashing with my potato masher, I called it good. It was still a little chunky, but that just adds texture. Yes, texture, that is what we will call it.

After cooking, I proceeded to can the applesauce. It was amazing how the applesauce seemed to grow as I ladled it into pint sized jars. My water-bath canner could handle 7 pints per batch. I ended up doing 3 batches, resulting in 19 jars of applesauce. I think we will be set for quite some time.

Now what to do with the remaining 5 Granny Smith apples. I think it is time for an apple crisp...