I got a hold of a big paper sack half full of Rhode Island Greening apples that came from a private farm on Sauvie Island up near Portland. If I had looked up this apple variety before tonight, my plans might have changed... turns out they keep really well into the winter and don't cook up as soft as some.
Instead, I washed and quartered them up, and put them in a stock pot tonight to cook. My canning reference for applesauce said to add a cup of water to the pot to prevent scorching. Ha! Not nearly enough...
Rhode Island Greenings make a nice sturdy cooking apple for pies and such as they keep their shape when cooked. No matter, once they began to soften, I used the potato masher to help things along. :)
Next they went into the food mill (thank you Sylvia, for passing it on when you no longer needed it!) to be pressed. This ended up taking me more than an hour - those apples really were resisting being squished.
The sauce was really thick... too thick actually. I thinned it down with some home pressed cider which helped sweeten it as well. A little sugar and a lot of cinnamon went in too. Okay, so I got eight pints into the canner with one quart left to eat fresh.
Okay so it'll be 11:00 before I get to bed... but hey! I didn't get to do any canning in 2011; who knew I'd have the opportunity in January!?
Aren't they lovely?
And... they all sealed!
