Easy as Apples

We were lucky in a few ways this year as far as our gleaning went.  Our wonderful neighbors Terry and Shirley not only shared all of their left over tomatoes with us, but also all of their canning jars.  This was wonderful and truly a windfall for us.  Thank you again Terry and Shirley for all!!!  Then our friend Bonnie told us we could come out to the farm and glean apples.  We really went to visit with her, but also got lots of apples.  We came home and this is what we did.

Apple Butter/Sauce

Wash all the apples
Cut all the apples into quarters (do not take out cores or seeds)
Fill to one inch below the top of a six quart pan with the apples
add 1/3 cup honey
add one teaspoon of salt
add 4 cups water

Cook down until apples are tender, about the same as you would cook for mashed potatoes.  Add cooked ingredients a small amount at a time to a food mill.  I find cranking 3 times to the right and once to the left seems to speed it up a bit.  Process all the apples this way and add to a crock pot, cook on low for 4 to six hours until apples are a medium brown for apple butter, stirring occasionally.  For applesauce add back to pan, bring to a simmer, cook until you get the consistency you would like.  Hot pack into canning jars leaving half inch of head space.  Put in boiling canner, process for 10 minutes, here is a chart to help with elevation times:

Altitude Adjustments for Boiling Water Bath Canner
Altitude in Feet	Increase processing time
1001-3000	5 minutes
3001-6000	10 minutes
6001-8000	15 minutes
8001-10,000	20 minutes

Remove from canner when processed and allow to cool, listen for those lids.  I love that POP!  We did two batches this way, one of butter and one of sauce.  Here is our reward!