Adventures in Canning

Today we decided to can applesauce. I have not made applesauce as an adult so I was very excited to learn something new. So was Cate as you can see in this picture.

We cut the apples. Abby washing, Cate looking on and Grandma wielding the sharp knife. It was fun. (They get washed, quartered and seeded.)

Then we cooked them down in a big pot... (2 quarts of water to this big canner full of apples. It's a HUGE pot!)

...and while we were waiting, Abby got ahold of the camera and tried to take a picture of Daddy without a shirt on. Hubba Hubba!

Then we squashed up the apples in a squasher strainer thingy that I used. It strains out the skins and stuff. You have to ladle the cooked apples into it and then hand crank it over a bowl and combine all the efforts into another big bowl or pot. I did get a picture of this but I was in it and I was in very inappropriate clothing for a blog. Sorry.

Then after sterilizing the bottles and lids, you have to heat up the applesauce just a bit...

...then ladle it into the cans/bottles...

...and finally put on the lids and boil the can/bottles lightly in a water bath for about 30 minutes until they seal.

At any one time, your kitchen may look like this...

...or like this.

There will be lots of pots used and lots of sticky apple juicyness everywhere. But if your mother-in-law is there to do it with you, it will all be cleaned up before you come out from changing diapers and putting the kids down for a nap.

In the end, the cans will be on the counter cooling and waiting for you to store them for a long winter of yummy goodness.