Homemade Applesauce

I made and canned this applesauce recipe at Christmas time as gifts to some of my closest friends. It's June and I'm still receiving kind comments about it. My neighbor calls it "the best apple sauce she's ever had!" and I just gave her another jar of it the other day. Part of me doesn't want to share my secret for the "best apple sauce" but that's what this site is all about...to share great recipes. So here it is. But don't think that because I gave you my applesauce recipe that you're going to get my lasagna recipe too. A girls gotta have some secrets. ;-)

Homemade Applesauce

3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)

4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths

Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp

3 inches of cinnamon stick

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

up to 1/4 cup of white sugar

1 cup of water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher. Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt.

Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.