More Applesauce

And You thought I was done with Applesauce for the year....
Nope...by Special Request (and the grace of our friends at Kroegers on Sauvie Island who had apples on sale 10# for $2.50...), our "village" canned on Saturday. Well, not completely. Cindy is luxuriating somewhere in the Mediterranian this very moment, perhaps having just spent the day seeing the Pyramids & contemplating which of the amazing desserts from the neverending buffet she would like to try...But aside from our one missing Mama, Sharon, Heidi & I went to the task of Canning 75 lbs of apples.

Sharon & Heidi wanted to learn how to can- since Applesauce is so easy (and Apples were so available...) we thought it would be a good way to start.
So, we met up at 9 (or so, Sharon made it at 9, I made it at "or so") and took a walk to a busy street a few blocks over for COFFEE. Must start the day with Coffee! Then we went onto bagels....then perhaps there was a little shopping....then finally off to the grocery store to buy canning jars & finally back to Heidi's house about noon.
I was amazed at how quickly Heidi & Sharon picked up on all the little things that need to happen to keep canning going quickly & smoothly! They were stars from the beginning! Next year I'm certain they'll be bringing me recipes for canning and teaching me a thing or two!

Sharon was excited about the "popping" (who can blame her, I get a little excited I hear the little pop pop pop of lids sealing myself!!)- so she sat down to see if she could watch the vacuum seal in action:
We all quickly picked up on our own tasks: Heidi was food processor, water/sugar adder for the apples, and stirrer. Sharon was Jar filler and Apple peeler, I was apple peeler, jar sterilizer, and jar wiper/lid placer....between the 3 of us we ended up with a pretty good canning rhythm!
Heidi lives in this really beautiful old house that amazingly has all of it's original windows. Unfortunately the kitchen window which opens so beautifully in the summer, was swollen shut and would not budge. About half way through we realized the entire inside of the house appeared to be "perspirating." Heidi found that in the area where we were loading up jars, the heat layer was just hanging about 7-8 feet up. If you stood on a chair you could feel the actual place where the air changed from "normal" to wet/dense humid air. We all had to get up on the chair and check it out6 hours and 49 Jars later....we finished. Yes....49. 48 pints and 1 quart. As we were processing the last set of jars in the hot water canner, I looked up to see canning jars on one of the shelves in Heidi's kitchen. I said "hey Heid, you own canning jars..." She had not even realized she had them! Now she knows the glory of a canning jar, I think she will learn to be very protective of them!!
This was one of the "varieties" we came up with today. We also had "Waiting Mama Applesauce" and a basic sugar free. Okay- the "On the Nest Applesauce", "Waiting Mama Applesauce", and the regular "Applesauce" were all identical...but it makes for more interesting canned good with such fun names!!