When Adam moved in he inherited 4 or 5 ancient and amazing apple trees. Although they had been neglected and forgotten for many years they were still hanging on... crossing their branches in hopes that a cool guy would come along and love them back to good health. There are several varieties. Some best for pie fillings and others delicious right off the tree. One day when I was out herding chickens around I heard Adam holler over the fence. He told me to come and pick as many apples as I'd like! See, that's a great neighbor.
The next day I grabbed a couple of re-usable grocery bags and headed over the fence. I was in search of the perfect apple for making applesauce. I found that apple on a gnarled old Gala apple tree in his back pasture. It was literally loaded with small, crisp, perfect apples. I find something very satisfying about picking and processing our own food. I love being outdoors in the sunshine. I love the buzz of our bees gently landing on the apple blossoms. I love hand-picking the perfect fruits and turning them into something healthy and delicious to feed the Sprouts. I love that Adam shares his apples!
I picked almost two full bags. I wanted to make sure I could carrying them back over the fence.
I'm still relatively new to all this food preservation stuff. Although I'm completely smitten with it I had only bottled applesauce one other time. It seems that I picked these when they were in their prime! I had never seen such beautiful apples and the taste almost knocked me over! They were the perfect sweetness, yet tart and juicy. They were pale yellow with no brown spots anywhere. I dug out the apple peeler/corer tool and got started. I couldn't stop admiring how lovely they were every time I tossed one in the pot.
Now really...who says organic fruit doesn't look good! These apples taste like apples are supposed to taste! They look like apples are supposed to look! And, lucky me...I got to pick them!
I ended up making a couple of different batches. I did add a bit of organic sugar and a bit of organic cinnamon to one batch. I also sourced this organic lemon juice! I highly recommend it. So much better than the "other" bottled lemon juices easily found on the grocery store shelves.
The smell of the cooking apples was so sweet. Literally and figuratively...It brought back tender memories and a story my brother shared with me a few years ago. When my four older brothers were small boys my sweet mother would treat them to graham crackers with homemade applesauce and whipped cream. I can just picture her looking through her humble pantry and coming up with a surprise dessert for her gaggle of little boys. It created such a sweet memory that was never forgotten and shared many years later...
After I filled all the jars there was a small bowlful leftover. Not quite enough to fill another jar...
So, I headed to the grocery store and picked up a small container of organic whipping cream and a box of graham crackers. That night I prepared the whipping cream. I stacked a couple of graham crackers in a bowl and added the applesauce. Then of course topped it off with whipped cream. As Hubs and I enjoyed this quiet simple dessert I couldn't help but think of my sweet mother and my big brothers...
So many memories, so much pleasure... (I made sure Adam got a jar of applesauce!)
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