Have you been apple picking yet this year? If not, you should definitely go. NOW! The weekend is beautiful and there’s still plenty of apples if you head to the right spot. For me, apple picking is a fall necessity. Last year might have been the first year I can remember that I didn’t go apple picking. It’s a tradition that started with my family as a kid, continued with my high school friends and now I do with my husband every October.
After seeing how easy Cranberry Butter was to make, I was ready for apple butter. Apple butter is basically apple sauce, cooked down until its thick and spreadable. One method of cooking it down is using a dutch oven, on the stove over very low heat for a couple of hours. And I mean very low heat, plus frequent stirring if you don’t want it to burn. Did I also mention the apples bubble a lot and pop, throwing scalding apple goo onto you and causing painful burns (I have the scars to prove it). So much work! Then I learned about the crockpot method.
So I might have lied about making one new homemade food that people generally buy to celebrate October Unprocessed. I’ve made applesauce before. In fact, I’ve made it a lot, for the past three years, at least a dozen quarts a year. And here I am, making it again. Even though it’s not new to me, I figured it might be new to some people. When I said boozy cranberries was the perfect canning starter recipe, I was wrong. Applesauce is the absolute easiest thing to make. So little effort and so good. I swear once you make your own applesauce, you’ll never go back.
Brooklyn Locavore 