Apples are a fruit that everyone probably loves and an apple tree is basically a standard feature in almost every garden. But when harvest time comes, you're faced with the big question: What do I do with all the apples? Simply letting them go to waste is just too bad. But eating them is also quite difficult, even when we feed our neighbors and friends. So what are the options? We would like to suggest the delicious apple porridge, which not only tastes wonderful on its own, but is also often served with rice pudding and other desserts, but is also used as an ingredient in cakes, for example. We explain how you can cook it and then preserve the applesauce.
Cooking apple puree - simple recipe without sugar
It's really not a difficult task to cook apple porridge. It only takes a little time as the apples have to be peeled, cored and cut into small pieces. However, you can save yourself the hassle of peeling if you use organic apples (this way they retain a lot of the vitamins) and cook applesauce with the peel on. If they come from your garden, you know whether and with what you have treated the tree and whether you should peel the fruit. There are only two ingredients for the applesaucewithout sugarnecessary, others only as desired, before you preserve the applesauce:
Simple applesauce recipe:
- 2kg apples
- 200 ml water
(As a rule, around 100 milliliters of water are required per kilogram of apples)
Once you have chopped the apples, put them in a sufficiently large pot with the water and cook the fruit pieces over a low to medium heat until soft. After about 20 minutes, pour some of the water into a separate container and puree the apples with a hand blender. If necessary, add the apple juice you have set aside until you reach the desired consistency.
Optionally you can:
Add the juice of half an organic lemon to the cooking water. This not only gives the puree a pleasant sour note, but also...also prevents browningof the apple. Some people like the applesauce spiced. Suitable spices include vanilla, cinnamon, clove or whatever else you like.
Preserve the applesauce by boiling it down
To ensure that it lasts a long time, you can boil down the applesauce. To do this, put the still hot puree into sterilized jars, close them immediately with the lids and turn them upside down. This way you can keep the applesauce for several weeks. You can extend the shelf life even further (up to a year) by cooking them for 30 minutes at a temperature of around 90 degrees.
Preserve the puree in the oven
Instead of cooking the jars in the pot, you can preserve the applesauce in the oven. To do this, simply place the glasses in a deep baking tray and fill it with water (be careful, it will be very heavy, so it is better to put them in the oven first and then fill them with water). Now heat the oven to 180 degrees and wait until bubbles start to form in the glasses. Then reduce the temperature to 100 degrees and continue cooking the puree for 30 minutes.
Then take the jars out and let them cool.
Apple puree without cooking
Is all this cooking too much for you? Then try applesauceto prepare without cooking. For this you need the following recipe, the quantities of which you can of course adjust depending on the amount of apple:
- 5 organic apples
- Juice of half a lemon
It is best to combine sweet and sour apples (4:1) to get a particularly interesting taste. Put the chopped and cored apples with the peel in a blender, pour in the juice and puree everything until a smooth mass is formed. The lemon juice keeps the apples from turning brown. Pour this puree into a glass and consume it in the refrigerator within about 2 days.
So now you've saved yourself the time of cooking, but of course that also means that the puree won't last as long as if you boiled it down. How do I preserve applesauce in this case?
Preserving applesauce – Can you freeze applesauce?
Can you preserve applesauce without boiling it? Yes, you can do this by freezing and this applies to both the cooked and the cold puree. The only important thing is that the cooked applesauce cools down first. Then put it in portions in a sealable freezer bag, smooth it out and put the bag in the freezer.
Alternatively, you can freeze it in ice cube trays (e.g. for baby porridge or smoothies) for smaller portions. However, transfer the cubes into bags as soon as they are frozen.
How else can you preserve apples?
As you can probably imagine, apple puree is by no means the only way to prepare apples deliciously and preserve them at the same time. You can also consider the following treats:
- apple juicefrom your own juicer or from mobile juice presses. The juice can also be tooCiderbe further processed.
- Apple jam or preservescook.Here is a recipe.
- Apple compoteby boiling down whole pieces of apple (and not then pureeing it, as with puree). You can drink/eat the compote or use the apple pieces for desserts such as cakes.
- ApfelchipsMake your own and preserve apples by cutting them into slices and drying them (in the oven or dehydrator).
- ApfelgeleeCook with gelling agent.
- Apple pulpdo it Yourself.
- Apple cider vinegarprepare and preserve apples in this way.
