Sugar Free Applesauce

Picking apples to make sugar free applesauce

A few months back my fella and I decided to give cohabitation a go. Of course there was packing, listing and selling my condo, donating a large amount of things I owned to charity, cleaning, organizing, you know how it goes… Combining two adult lives into a cute, little farm house takes time and energy. Trying to change a “bachelor pad” into a cozy home can be a job in itself. But I’m happy to say that the effort has paid off and I’ve reached a level of great comfort with my companion in my new dwelling.

With that said I have been on quite the hiatus from this blog. Keeping busy without dedicating any time to sharing. Questioning whether it’s worth it in the end. Does anyone care about the things I share? What makes my shenanigans worthy of any attention? But I spend a lot of time discovering inspiration/information on the net and if my stories can inspire/inform even one person then it’s worth it.

Collection of apples to make sugar free applesauce

So! The apple trees out back have bestowed us with a bounty of apples and I have used a portion of my collection for apple butter (I’ll get to that more at the end). Apple butter is essentially a sweet, thick, cooked down version of applesauce. So with a taste of the applesauce on its way to becoming butter, I was amazed at how great it tasted! Pre sugar and spices! That was that. I was going to throw together another batch and make sugar free applesauce. Perfect for baking, dinners, or my personal favorite, putting on ice cream!

Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients:

  • 4 lbs apples
  • 1 C apple cider vinegar
  • 2 C filtered water
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • a pinch of salt

Equipment:

  • a large pot with lid
  • a chinois sieve
  • a wooden spoon

Preparing apples for sugar free applesauce

 

Through my pursuit of information on the world wide web I learned that there is a lot of pectin in the core of an apple and loads of flavor in the peels. Keep in mind my initial creation was to be apple butter, not sauce, so pectin was a good thing and I wanted to keep as much of it as possible.

 

Washing the apples for sugar free applesauce

Preparing apples to make sugar free applesauce

To start, cut your apples into quarters, removing any buggy, yucky bits and the stems. I washed mine after the chop as it was easier to clean any dirt that likes to hang around the stem and bottom of the fruit. Then place your apple chunks into your large pot. Add the apple cider vinegar and water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook on medium-low until the apples are soft. About 20 to 30 minutes.

Cooking down the apples for sugar free applesauce          Cooking down the apples for sugar free applesauce

Preparing to mash the apples into sugar free applesauce

Using the chinois sieve to make sugar free applesauce

 

Once cooked, scoop the apple mixture into your chinois sieve. Mash it through into a large bowl using the wooden spoon (or the proper pestle to go with the sieve which I do not posses). So a spoon it was and it worked great! The total mashing process took me about twenty minutes. It is much easier with a helper to hold the sieve (as I also do not have a stand for it either. It was my grandmas and has been hanging around for a long time!) but can be completed solo as well. Think of it as a hand workout!

 

Adding the spices to the sugar free applesauce

Once the mashing is completed you should have a delicious, velvety smooth applesauce with a zing to it from the vinegar. Stir in your spices and, ta-da! You have made sugar free applesauce! I made this with the intention of freezing it. So I scooped it, in 1 cup measurements, into food safe ziploc bags, rolled them up and fired them in the freezer. Leaving some in a jar in the fridge, of course, to use right away. You could also can this if you would like to preserve it that way instead.

Sugar free applesauce

It was the process of making apple butter that got me onto this dreamy sauce so if you’d like to give that a try too then check out this website Apple Butter Recipe.

What did I learn? The secret to great applesauce is the apple core! I will never make an apple sauce without the cores and peels again!

Good luck getting saucy! x

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2 Responses to Sugar Free Applesauce

  1. Heather says:

    You have so much to offer my friend!! Inspiring and well-written….keep it up!

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