I love the smell of cinnamon and apples!

So this week we processed about around 10 lbs of apples! The goal, to make applesauce and apple butter!

 First step: Wash ALL of the apples!

 Second Step: Peel!

 Third Step: Quarter and Core

 Fourth Step: Slice

 Fifth Step: Cook!

It took two full days to get through all of the apples, as they had to be done in stages.

After getting the first batch of applesauce completely cooked, I pureed it so as to get all of the lumps out. I filled a 5.5quart crock pot with the puree, added 2 cups of sugar, 6 tablespoons of cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons of ground cloves, and cooked it on high for about an hour (to get it to boiling temp again). Then it cooked on low over night, for about 10 hours. I managed to fill 12 pint-sized jars with the apple butter (which turned out absolutely delicious)!

While the apple butter was cooking in the crock pot, I continued to process the rest of the apples and canned about 6 quarts of unsweetened apple sauce.

I am very pleased with how my first canning experience turned out! It definitely gave me some perspective as far as timing and ratios go! I'm definitely looking forward to canning in the future!

A Picking We Shall Go

The apples are ripe and ready here on the property, so when Jamie get's home from school, we're going to go out and pick them! Depending on how much we get, I'll make and can some applesauce and apple butter! It's been over 15 years since I canned anything so this should be fun! I'm really looking forward to  relearning the process! I foresee the need for another storage shed next year so we'll have somewhere to store all of the fruits and veggies that I'll be preserving!