Joyeux Kitchen: Grandma's Applesauce

Happy birthday, Johnny Appleseed!  In honor of the apple-man here's one of my favorite fall recipes.

• Have a big bowl of cold, salted water ready (to keep the fruit from discoloring).
• Peel and core 8-10 apples (Grandma Nell swears by Gravenstein).
• Cut into chunks, keep apples in the salted water while you're chopping.
• Transfer apple chunks to a stockpot, add 3/4 cup water, a pinch of salt and 1/3 cup sugar.
• Cook until mushy and dump into jars or any airtight container.

Doug's Grandma Nell makes this every time the family gets together for a meal.  It sounds like such a simple thing but it's really delicious, and she's right about the Gravenstein apples.  They have a lot of flavor that you just won't find in run-of-the-mill grocery store Red Delicious.

Orchards In Western Washington

Lindsay and I took the kids to an orchard, so we have apples-a-plenty.  Can't wait to make this with the girls!  I found some great apple activities online, too.  Here's a link to an apple coloring page, and I found Disney's old Johnny Appleseed movie on YouTube, Part 1 and Part 2. 


The kiddos at the orchard we visited in Olympia.  Never saw the apple trees but brought home some yummy apples to make sauce tonight!