Homemade applesauce

Nothing reminds me of my mom more than making applesauce at home. First, because it was a staple of our family dinners growing up. My mom would plan our meals based on a color-code she learned in Home Ec class: one protein; one white (rice, potatoes); and one bright color (green, say for salad, purple for beets, or the vibrant pink of homemade applesauce). And second, because she gave me the food mill I now use to press apples in my own kitchen. And third, because she's right when she says that homemade applesauce is one of the most simple yet utterly satisfying foods you can make.


All it requires is buying a bag of McIntosh apples (or picking them yourself, if you're farm-ish), quartering them with a knife (leaving skins, seeds, stems attached, no fuss) and putting them into a sautee pot along with about a 1/2 cup of water. Cover with a lid, and turn the heat up to about medium, then putter about for ten minutes or so, checking on the apples every now and then to see if they've gotten soft and the skin has started to pull away. Once they start to look as though you could mash the flesh with a fork, the apples are ready. You'll simply drain away most of the water, then dump the apples into your food mill and spin like mad until as much of that sweet flesh (but none of the skins, etc) as possible presses through to the bowl beneath. And that's it, my friends.


The sauce you're left with won't really resemble anything that comes from a jar. You won't need to add brown sugar or cinnamon, but you can. Either way, it will be warm and delicious, and it will taste like God's own food.