Homemade Peach Applesauce

When you go to the grocery store and are walking down the aisle that contains the applesauce, you will see an array of flavors. Today the shelves are stocked with cinnamon, wild berry, strawberry, peach, chunky, just to name a few. But how many people actually make their own flavored applesauce?

Since apples are generally mild in flavor, it is easy to add other fruits to it, to add another dimension of flavor. And since it was peach season, I decided to make some peach applesauce. The apples I use were apples that were available during peach season. Of course you could use whatever combination you like. Here is what I used.

1 extra large Glowing Star Peach
2 Jersey Mac apples
2 Ginger Gold apples
3 Paula Red apples

Peach selection: Use whatever peach variety you like. I used Glowing Star. They are large so I only had to peel one peach. They are a mid-season variety, so they are available the same time as early apples. If you buy your peaches at the store you aren’t going to know the exact variety (read about shopping for peaches). I wouldn’t recommend white flesh peaches as they are less acidic and you want some acidity.

Apple selection: Jersey Mac, Ginger Gold, and Paula Red are all early season apples. They each have a nice sweet/tart balance and have a soft texture that allows them to break down well for applesauce. These same apples I wouldn’t recommend for pies. You can use any of these apples in any combination or mix is some other varieties. It’s a matter of learning what you like.

Instructions
1. First off, I think applesauce making is not an exact science. Instead of following a recipe, let your tongue do the testing. If it needs more sugar add it, if it needs some spice, add that to. You can also adjust the apples you use based on whether you want it more tart or more sweet.

2. If you have a food mill, I recommend making your life easier as well as adding flavor and vitamins to your sauce and leave the skins on. You can remove them with the food mill when done. So now all you have to do is slice them up to remove the pits in both the apples and the peaches.

3. For cooking them you can either use a pot on the stovetop or a slow cooker. You can get good results either way, but with a slow cooker your chance of burning the bottom of one of your pans are gone. I add a little bit of liquid to get started. I use 1/4 cup of apple juice. The apples will release plenty of liquid on their own.

4. Cook your sauce until it is the consistency you desire. I let mine cook all afternoon. Then run it through a food mill or you can use a immersion blender if you already removed the skins. If your sauce comes out too runny (mine did) then place it back in the slow cooker, turn up the heat to full blast, and wait until it’s the right consistency. Add sugar to taste (white or brown it’s your choice). Serve warm or refrigerate.