canning applesauce

A great way to preserve apples when they are in season is to make your own homemade applesauce and can it in a water bath canner.

Homemade Applesauce for Canning

apples

water

cinnamon

Prepare your apples by washing in plain water. Cut into chunks, remove cores, and add the apples to your saucepan. Add just enough water to the pot to prevent sticking.

Cook the apples over medium-low heat to soften, stirring occasionally so to prevent sticking. After the apples are soft, turn off the heat and allow the apples to cool.

Prepare your jars and lids by washing in warm, soapy water and rinsing thoroughly. Place jar rack into water bath canner, set jars in the canner, add water, and boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize. Warm your lids in a small pot over low heat. Keep jars and lids warm until ready to use.

Run the cooled applesauce through a Food Strainer or Food Mill to remove skins, seeds, and to smooth out the sauce.

Return the applesauce to your saucepot. Taste the applesauce and add your cinnamon (and any other spices, if using). Start out with just a little and adjust until you are happy with the flavor. Bring the applesauce to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring to prevent sticking.

Spread a kitchen towel on the counter. Use your jar lifter to remove warm jars from canner, drain, and line up on the towel. Use your canning ladle and funnel and add applesauce to warm jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe the rims. Use your magnetic lid lifter to lift lids out of the warm water, center lid on the jar, and screw on band until it is fingertip tight.

Using jar lifter, place jars carefully into canner leaving space in between them. Once jars are all in canner, adjust the water level so it is at least one inch above the jar tops. Add more boiling water if needed so the water level is at least one inch above the jar tops. When adding water, use the hot water from the small pot your lids were in. Pour the water around the jars and not directly onto them.

Cover the canner and bring to boil over high heat. Once water boils vigorously, continue boiling pints for 20 minutes at altitudes of less than 1,000 ft. (adjust processing time for your altitude if necessary).

When processing time is complete, turn off heat and allow the canner to cool down and settle for about 10 minutes. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter; remove the cover by tilting lid away from you so that steam does not burn your face. Use a jar lifter to lift jars carefully from canner and place on the towel. Allow the jars to cool for 12 to 24-hours. You should hear the satisfactory “ping” of the jar lids sealing.

After 12 to 24-hours, check to be sure jar lids have sealed by pushing on the center of the lid. The lid should not pop up. If the lid flexes up and down, it did not seal. Refrigerate jar and use up within a few days.

A step by step guide on Canning Applesauce with no sugar added. This is the only canned applesauce recipe you’ll ever need for preserving apples at home.

Canning Applesauce {Preserving Apples}

Prepare your water bath canner by filling it with water. You just need to have enough water to cover the jars by 2 inches once the water is boiling.

Set the canner on the stove. Turn the burner to high. Once it reaches a boil, reduce it to simmer. You want to keep the water hot so that everything is ready when the applesauce is.

Wash and sanitize your jars. You’ll want to keep them warm to avoid having them crack when placed in the canner. You can fill them with hot water, or place them on a tray in the oven at 200 degrees F.

Wash your lids and set aside in clean place. You no longer need to simmer lids in water to keep them sterile.

CANNING PREP

Set a medium/large pot of water to medium high on your stove.

Wash your apples and cut into eighths, or more if you have particularly large apples. Add apples to the hot water and cook until they have softened (1-5 minutes depending on your type of apple).

Remove using a slotted spoon and place in a strainer set into a large bowl.

Run the apples through a food mill to remove the seeds and skins. Keep warm until ready to can (I use my slow cooker set to warm).

Ladle in the warm applesauce into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove the bubbles from the jar (I use a chopstick).

Use a wet clean rag and wipe the rim of the jars to make sure it is free of any food.

Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.

Prep the Apples/Sauce

Lower your jars into the canner using canning tongs/jar lifter. Secure the lid and set the timer for 15 minutes for pints or 20 minutes for quarts. For canning at different altitudes, check out the guide in the post for adjusted processing times.

When the time is up, turn off the stove and let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then lift them out with canning tongs. Place on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

Pretty soon you’ll start hearing some “pops and pings” which are the sounds of the jars sealing. Yay!! You did it!

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed. You can reprocess them or store them in the fridge or freezer (only freeze jars that are wide mouth).

Canning the Applesauce

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Homemade Applesauce for Canning

Canning Applesauce {Preserving Appl...

Top 2 canning applesauce recipes from across the web

The most viewed canning applesauce recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Homemade Applesauce for Canning

Canning Applesauce {Preserving Appl...

The most viewed canning applesauce recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine