Apple Sauce

This original recipe was passed down to me by my grandmother. Her mother made this recipe before giving it to her. It is a cherished recipe that has seen a lot of miles. The Original recipe calls for Brown sugar or regular sugar when my family traveled down south from the northern territory, where maple syrup was hard to come by.

I have made both recipes and both are equally delicious. I have adapted this recipe down to serve only two. You can adapt it to make more if you like. It is very easily adaptable.

INGREDIENTS:

5 large red apples ( peeled, cored and chopped into bite-size pieces)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 tsp cinnamon ( add one tsp or more if you want more of a cinnamon taste)

1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional )

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large cast iron pot ( with a fitted lid ) Add the apples and water. Bring to a boil. When the water begins to boil let cook 2 minutes more and then turn down the heat to simmer the apples. Add the lid and allow the apples to cook until very tender. This takes about 25 to 40 minutes depending on your temperature.
2. When the apples are tender remove from the heat and using a potato masher, mash the apples until it looks like applesauce.
3. Add in the maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg and then mix well. Make sure there are no large clumps of spices.
4. Pour the mixture into a clean mason jar washed in hot water and dried. Attach the lid and allow to cool on the counter.

NOTE* The nutmeg spice is an optional spice. During the time of which this recipe was written, the nutmeg spice was hard to come by. You had to special order it and wait for the spice to be delivered by boat and coach.

Also at the time, this recipe was written, My family was in the northern territory where maple syrup was somewhat abundant and the cost was somewhat affordable. When the family later traveled south, Maple syrup was not so common and as the nutmeg, you would have to special order it and wait for it to be delivered. This being the case she had to adapt the recipe for brown sugar or regular sugar to accommodate the more affordable sugars.

If you plan on using the brown sugar or regular white sugar be aware that the sweetness of the sauce will vary.  Start with 1/4 cup of either or and work your way up to the desired sweetness you want. This is exactly how the recipe description is noted because the sweet level of maple syrup differs from the sweet level of brown sugar and regular white sugar.

This recipe will stay good for a long time if you can them properly. But just making two servings of this and keeping in the fridge will last around 1 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this little piece of history I am sharing with you and I hope you make this recipe with your family and share in the applesauce goodness.

I have tested this recipe in a crockpot, slow cooker and anything of the like. I love the flavor the cast iron gives this sauce and it is something that you can not add in another cooking method. The cast iron just brings its own flavor to the sauce and you can not capture that in any other way. If you do not have a cast iron pot you can make this in any pan or pot that you have on hand. If you want to make this in a slow cooker or crockpot you can. You will have to cook the mixture about 1 1/2 hours to 3 1/2 hours depending on temperature. Just check the apples for doneness when ready to mash. Make sure they are quite tender.