The boxes are empty.

And I'm waiting on the last batch of apples cooking now. Since this is basically all I've been doing since Monday, I have a few more pictures for you:

The cores.

For each batch I kept & counted the cores (and then threw them away), and for each batch I ended up using between 30-40 apples, in my 6-quart stock pot. (This batch had 36.) (And yes there were several recitations in my head of Apple core, Baltimore, who's your friend...)

The magic machine.

I bought this several years ago at Williams Sonoma and it has been invaluable this week. There is no way I would've undertaken this project without the ability to peel, slice, and core each apple in about 15 seconds.

The fingers.
You know how sliced apples oxidize and turn brown? Well, as turns out, when you run about 450 apples through a peeler/corer/slicer, enough microscopic pieces of apple embed themselves into your cuticles to turn them brown too (stained). Gross.

But the applesauce is goooood.

The smushing.

I don't have a ricer or a food mill, so I did this. Forced the cooked apples through a wire mesh strainer with the pestle part of a mortar & pestle. It wasn't hard and it made applesauce just the right consistency.

And finally, the Sauce.
Sweeter and tastier than store-bought unsweetened. FYI, we used two boxes of Fuji and one box each of Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Jonagold, and Jonathan; every batch is an equal mixture of all varieties (well, heavier on the Fuji) and I think that's why it's so good!


It looks like I'm going to end up with about 43 quarts of applesauce (counting some we've eaten), for the portion I did (my mom and I worked on them together on Monday and she took home quite a few apples, so I won't be able to figure out the cost-per-quart until she's finished with hers). There are 4 quarts in a gallon, right? So that means I've made nearly ELEVEN GALLONS of applesauce this week. Yowsa.

(It's okay if you don't comment. I mean, two posts about apples is a little much and you were already highly complimentary with your comments in the last post.)

UPDATE: having received my mother's applesauce totals I can now give you the financial information for this project. The monetary cost, just for the apples (not counting jars, electricity for cooking & canning, and most especially the TIME involved) comes to about $2.74/quart. ($170 for 6 boxes of apples which yielded 62 quarts.) I'm not a very informed shopper but it seems to me that it wouldn't be hard to find applesauce at the store for that price. This homemade stuff does, however, far surpass the store stuff in flavor and overall delicious appleness.

Final Verdict: financially not worth it. But as I said before, if I had an unlimited supply of free apples, yes I would do this again.

And now I think I'm done talking about it.