Dunking for Apples

This past Saturday we set our alarm so we could rise with the sun to get started on our apple canning.  Rick was going to go to work in the middle of this process for a little while and I had a conference to attend in the evening not to mention we expected five children to be needing attention through the day as well so there was no time to be lost.  Plus, the fresher the better and these apples were already a week old.  Our equipment was clean and set to go so we began by cleaning the 2 1/2 bushels of apples.

Once clean we would bring a load over to the table for the next person to begin working on them.  This basket carries less than a half bushel.  The person at the table had to move fairly rapidly as load after load of apples was cleaned.

Our first bushel of apples was destined for jars of apple slices and so needed to be peeled and cored, followed by two other recipes for additional bushels.

More apples awaited under the table, their “hiding” spot all week!  Where else could we put three bushels of apples in an eat-in kitchen? 

We had big apples, small apples and all in between.  

This heavy-duty corer/peeler/slicer makes the work so easy that our three year old could easily perform this task a year ago.  There is very little wastage.  And it makes the job so much quicker; we literally go twice as fast as we used to!!!  And it gets more people involved in the work.

Later, Lindsay took a turn with the food mill as we prepared the apple sauce, a wonderful golden color this year.  She worked at this until she thought her “arm would fall off”!

And of course we had Sandy’s help.  It is her first autumn as she nears her very first birthday next month and she was checking into EVERYTHING!  What could be better than apples floating in the water, except maybe a rubber duck floating in someone’s bathwater?  This cat is so funny!

 

We funneled hot apple slices into jars and processed them in the old boiling water canner which my mother let me “borrow” fifteen years ago claiming that she would ask for it back if she ever wanted it.  I don’t think she has used it since sometime before we moved away from Michigan.  We have enjoyed it for many years now.  I’m attached! 

I have a somewhat eclectic collection of jars.  Mason, Ball, Kerr and Atlas all have differences  and jars change a little bit over the years anyway.  I enjoy looking at the differences in their designs and shapes.  I think my very most favorite jar is the one with a Liberty Bell on it that says 1776 over the top and 1976 underneath.  I imagine it was some special bicentennial edition that a canning jar company put out way back and I imagine that it must have contained dill pickles from my Grandma.  Exactly how I came to have it… I’m not sure at this point.

Another point of interest, although I have plenty, I looked at a box of a dozen canning jars in the store recently that were priced over $12!  I still have the price tag on one of the boxes I bought 14 years ago that says $3.89.  I guess jars are an investment of sorts.  I guess the fact that there is an actual price tag also says something.  If you are looking for a “cheaper” alternative or to round out your jar supply from a few that may have been broken or given away I have checked around and you can use jars from Classico pasta sauce.  They are smaller than a quart but they say “Mason” and work perfectly well as a canning jar.  They ARE Mason jars.

Apple butter simmers on the stove top………….. These apples simmer to soften for milling into sauce.

 

After 17 hours of kitchen labor (at least one of us working in the kitchen at all times), lots of help, and putting out two fires (Rick ended the lives of two hot pads two separate times) we set hot jars out to cool on towels and stumbled to bed.  All lids sealed but one, and Sunday morning we counted 14 quarts of apple slices, 19 1/2 quarts of apple sauce and 9 pints of apple butter.  Yummy Success!