Tip of the Week - Making Applesauce (Part I)

 

It's applesauce making time around our house.  And by that I don't mean I'm going to mash up a pan of cooked apples, add some sugar, and serve it for a couple of weeks from a big bowl in the fridge.  I'm talking serious applesauce canning, with dozens of quarts lined up on the counter after a grueling day that starts at 6 a.m. and involves Grandpa and Grandma arriving with their biggest cooking pots, canning jars, and most importantly--the prized Victorio Strainer.

This bad boy is the heart of our operation, to say the least.  We all have our various jobs.  Some of us wash and quarter the apples, others man the huge pots of simmering apples on the stove, ever vigilant with the long handled spoons to ward off scorching.  But the guy with the real power is the one out in the garage with the Victorio Strainer clamped to a table, awaiting the sporadic arrival of panfuls of well-cooked apples, then cranking out the thick, pink sauce, which flows down the spout and into a waiting bowl.

The operator of this miraculous machine has always been my dad, grower of the delicious Jonathan apples whose sauce has nourished three generations of children, spoiled against store-bought applesauce to the point that they willingly come home to help on Applesauce Day, just to be sure of taking home their fair share of the delicious nectar!

Tomorrow is the big day, so I will take lots of pictures to share with you next week.  If you don't have a Victorio Strainer in some dark corner of your basement (or Grandma's), new versions like the one pictured above should work just as well as the old ones and are available for purchase both on-line and locally.  They last a lifetime, so if you grow your own apples or have access to a good supply, it's worth the investment.  Making homemade applesauce is a simple, though time consuming task, just like most canning projects.  Some things are worth making yourself, and to my way of thinking, homemade applesauce is one of those.  Look for Part II in the next issue of Savings for Sisters.

To see how to purchase a Victorio Strainer, go HERE.

See you next week!