More Than Our Story

Homemade Applesauce

Delicious homemade applesauce.

Total Time: 20 to 30 Minutes

Yield: 10+ servings

Plant-based

Table of Contents

Inspiration

It’s that time again, kids are back to school and apples are ready to pick! Homemade applesauce is a healthy, easy to make snack, perfect for school lunches or anytime. It also provides a quick energy boost, great for before or during long workouts.

Ingredients

I wanted to keep the ingredients are clean as possible:
  • 4 pounds (about 8 to 10 apples) apples, peeled, cored, and quartered. 
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup water
  • Optional: ¼ cup turbinado sugar
  • Optional: 3 strips (1-2” long) lemon peel (without pith)

Use apples varieties that are good for cooking, such as Cortland, Crispin, Fuji, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Jonathon, McIntosh, Pippin.

HEALTHY CHOICE:
Silken are my apple of choice. Their flesh is firm, but incredibly sweet and juicy with a natural honey flavor - perfect for naturally sweet apple sauce without adding any sugar.

Preparation

  1. Rince the apples under cool water, and gently pat dry.
  2. Peel the apples, core them, and cut into quarters. I like to only partially peel mine so you can tell it’s homemade.
  3. Heat the water in a medium pot to a boil.
  4. Add apples, and optional lemon peel, boil for 10-12 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and remove lemon peel (if using).
  6. Mash with a potato masher for chuckier, or blender to desired consistency.
  7. Add cinnamon, lemon juice, and optional turbinado sugar.
  8. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container.

HEALTHY TIP:
Wash your apples thoroughly to remove not just dirt and bacteria, but also harmful wax and pesticide residue.

Tips

  • Lemon juice is an excellent natural preservative, it will help keep your applesauce fresh.
  • Turbinado sugar, also marketed as raw sugar, has been refined just enough to make it safe to eat, while preserving the natural crystals and color of the molasses in the sugarcane. Remember – it’s still sugar, so use sparingly to reduce your chances of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, and other serious illnesses.
  • You can store homemade applesauce for 5 days in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it for longer-term storage.
Picture of Daniel

Daniel

Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit. Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.

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