Can-tastic

The week after we picked apples, I headed to the kitchen with a pair of little helpers. Kyrie & Degen both took their turns helping to peel apples- who can resist the fun of an apple peeler?

Though we didn't have as many apples as we did last year, I cooked up a few batches of apple-deliciousness to can. I found once again that I really enjoy the challenge that canning provides. It is not a difficult process, but it does take time, effort and planning.

Last year, I canned "naked" applesauce, apple bites in a light syrup and apple smash. We enjoyed each of these and got a lot of good feedback from others who tried them, but this year I wanted to try some new things. My first recipe was for cinnamon apples. These are diced apples in a cinnamon syrup. I love how pretty this recipe looks in the jars.

My second 'recipe' (no, I didn't use an actual recipe) was for "fancy" applesauce. This was a sweetened and lightly-spiced applesauce- a mix between last year's naked and the apple smash.



Unfortunately, I only had enough apples to do those two small batches, but I saved all the peels to make a batch of apple butter. I used a recipe that I an old 4-H camp friend shared with me. I was a bit skeptical and did end up adding some of last year's naked applesauce to round it out a bit, but this recipe turned out great. One jar didn't set, so we had it with dinner that night and it was super-delicious. It also felt good not to waste all those peels!

This year's apple trio: cinnamon apples, fancy applesauce and apple butter! I wish that we had more apples so that I could have made enough to share with family and friends like last year. I'm already looking forward to next year and hoping for a bumper crop of apples!