I love apples! I think they’re one of the easiest things to preserve. If you are trying to eat in season and preserve your own food, apples are a great way to start! (Check out our other recipes using apples!)
My dad’s love language is making food for people. Although he usually made plenty of delicious applesauce, he often gave so much of it away that it didn’t last long in our house.
Because my corer and peeler didn’t peel my apples very well, I removed the skins from my apples manually. This is important if you are just starting on apples on GAPS Stage 5. After you know you can tolerate apple skins, you can skip the peeling step if you want to.
When I process large amounts of apples, I always think about making apple cider vinegar! Save your peels and cores (but not any rotting or bruised parts) to make your own apple cider vinegar.
You can make applesauce in large batches or small ones. For most of the year, I make applesauce batches with just two or three apples. If you make a very large batch of applesauce, it is easy to can preserve it in a water bath or freeze it to enjoy later.
You can use any kind of apple to make applesauce, or even a mixture of apple varieties. It’s a great use for slightly wrinkly apples, which is why I often do 1 or 2 at a time.
Apples should be eaten with plenty of animal fat. Butter is my favorite but lard or ghee are ok choices as well. Apples contain a lot of sugar so the fat helps keep your blood sugar from spiking and, as we talked about in The One About Fat, fat soluble vitamins help us absorb other nutrients.
Ingredients for Applesauce:
Apples: Peeled and Cored or just Peeled and Sliced
Filtered Water
Butter
Directions for Applesauce:
Rinse your apples and cut and slice them.
Cut your apples into fairly similarly sized pieces so they cook down evenly.
Add a tiny bit of filtered water, 1-3 tbsp, to the bottom of a pot so the apples don’t burn as you are waiting for them to soften.
Add apples to the pot and set on a stove on medium low heat.
Stir the apples every few minutes as they cook so they do not burn.
When your apples are soft, mash them with a fork or potato masher. If they are not covered, you may need to add a little bit more water.
I prefer my apple sauce to be chunky but you can put it through a blender, food processor or masher to smooth it.
Serve it warm or cold, fresh or freeze it for later! To freeze it, cool your applesauce completely. I use BPA free plastic bags. If I have a lot to freeze, I measure it out in 1-2 cup increments.
When you eat it, be sure to add lots of butter!
Simple Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- Apples: Peeled and Cored or just Peeled and Sliced
- Filtered Water
- Butter
Instructions
- Rinse your apples and cut and slice them.
- Cut your apples into fairly similarly sized pieces so they cook down evenly.
- Add a tiny bit of filtered water, 1-3 tbsp, to the bottom of a pot so the apples don’t burn as you are waiting for them to soften.
- Add apples to the pot and set on a stove on medium low heat.
- Stir the apples every few minutes as they cook so they do not burn.
- When your apples are soft, mash them with a fork or potato masher. If they are not covered, you may need to add a little bit more water.
- I prefer my apple sauce to be chunky but you can put it through a blender, food processor or masher to smooth it.
- Serve it warm or cold, fresh or freeze it for later! To freeze it, cool your applesauce completely. I use BPA free plastic bags. If I have a lot to freeze, I measure it out in 1-2 cup increments.