Golden-Pink Applesauce for the freezer! 8-26-2019

(update from Lori Fiechter: This tastes fantastic on top of pork chops! I put the bbq sauce aside for once!) Growing up, we made summer applesauce from Transparent apples or Lodi. Admittedly, this made the tastiest, thickest applesauce ever! But our Lodi tree blew out in the field a couple of decades ago and we never replaced it. In fact, that is where our rhubarb/ground cherry/sweet potato patch is now!

Those summer apples were sour! They needed a good deal of sugar to be palatable. I made applesauce today using a combination of Paula Reds (for color) and our Honeycrisp. I did use sugar, because I used apples that were not fully ripe--more pectin = thicker sauce. If you wanted to use less sugar or none at all, simply use riper, sweeter fall apples.

Last year, I was short on freezer space and so I canned my sauce but I prefer the fresher taste of frozen applesauce--it is ideally eaten when it is partially frozen! I managed to make room for everything in the freezer, so we're good! I might have some jam or jelly to freeze yet later this week, but that doesn't take up much room.