It's Applesauce Time  yum  yum

What time is it?
       It's August and that means it's Gravenstein Apple Time, thats what.
            And, Gravenstein Apple time means making applesauce for the year.
                  And, THAT meant a trip to Sebastopol and Andy's Produce.

      Sure, I know they sell apples in the "store". But it's difficult to find good Gravensteins.
           Sure, I know I could go to the local Farmer's Market.  But those guys probably just came back from Sebastopol themselves. Probably bought their apples from Andy's, anyway.
              If anyone is going to have a nice country drive to Sebastopol to get Gravenstein's it's going to be ME. 
       
               I called up to Andy's a week, or so, ago and Kim told me they wern't quite ready yet.  Called again and they are ready.  So, over to route 116 and up to Sebastopol and Andys.  There are little places before you get to the city and in the city where they sell apples but Andy's is special.  It's a neat open fresh produce store that has lots of other great items.  I've thought about moving to Sebastopol just to be closer to Andy's.  Bingo! Two boxes (80 lbs) some olives and blueberries and it's back home to whip up a mess o' applesauce.

    Applesauce is a lot easier, now that I'm using a peeler/slicer/correr and an immersion blender. specially when I've got about 220 apples to go through.

APPLESAUCE    IN THE MICROWAVE                (See updates below)

                                        Carl & Kay Depew

9-10   apples peeled and cut into eighths.

1/2 cup                apple juice

1/4 - 1/2 cup        sugar

¾ tsp. Cinnamon

you could also add ¼ tsp. of nutmeg or cloves or both…
  OH, also some Fruit Fresh to keep the apples from turning brown while you are peeling them all....

Place apples and juice into a 2 quart casserole. Cover and microwave for 7 minutes (if you want smooth and use a blender) or 10 minutes (if you want chunky and use a potato masher).

SMOOTH

Put apples and remaining ingredients into blender and mix until smooth.

CHUNKY

Use a potato masher to mash apples. Mix in remaining ingredients.

Place applesauce in plastic zip lock bags and freeze until ready to use. Makes 6-7 cups

UPDATE - July, 2005: I now use an immersion blender to "mash" the apples and I'm using an apple peeler/slicer/correr.
   I place the apples in cold water with fruit fresh until I have 9 or 10 and then put them into the bowl for the microwave.
   
    This year we didn't use any nutmeg or cloves. I did, though, use 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 whole teaspoon of cinnamon.  Kay tastes every batch and she thought it was a little better with  more sugar and cinnamon.  So start with what we show and then add whatever your taste buds say it needs.

 UPDATE - August 2008
      When I tasted the apple sauce,  after "mashing" them with the immersion blender, it seemed they were a little more tart than past years so I added a little more sugar.  

1/10/2010   Still have a few packages of sauce from '08 but will have to make more this year.