Late Season Canning

Grandma Sent 5 MORE Bags of Apples...

This fall I posted a quick recipe for applesauce, because my grandma supplied me with a few bags of beautiful organic apples.  Well my Dad came for another visit in mid-November, and he brought five more bags of apples with him!  Apples keep fairly well if you have the right place to store them... Unfortunately I do NOT!  I have no root cellar, my garage is way below the freezing mark, and both of my fridges are filled to the brim.   This month I was also busy with work, training courses on my days off, and planning my daughter's birthday.  SO, what is one to do with a glut of apples, if not applesauce (and no time to speak of)?  Apple Juice!  Pure, sweet, lovely, apple juice.  Warmed with a cinnamon stick, or cold over ice with a bit of Perrier.  This stuff is AMAZING!!!!

Making your own apple juice is a bit more involved than you might imagine.  Washing and coring the apples is a lot of work on its own... Then you have to run them through a juicer, and then double or triple strain the juice to remove the pulp that floats around on the top (this is a painfully tedious process, but worth the work, for the clarity of the juice).  After that you have to boil your juice, ladle it into hot sterilized jars, and put in a water bath canner for 25 mins or so.  It took me about 5 hours all said and done (about half the time it would take me to do applesauce).  The taste is incredible, and NOTHING like store-bought apple juice!