Best Applesauce Recipe for Canning (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep applesauce from turning brown when canning? ›

Some recipes for applesauce include a tablespoon of lemon juice for each quart of sauce to preserve the color and to increase acidity. The addition of ground spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg adds natural color that may mask some of the oxidation.

Applesauce is safe to can in a waterbath canner with proper acidification. Different varieties of apples have different pH levels (some of which are not safe for waterbath canning and some that are), so to be on the safe side, we recommend adding lemon juice to every batch of applesauce.

The best apples for applesauce are whatever apples you have on hand and need to use up. However, if you have a choice, we recommend using a combination of sweet and tangy varieties for the best flavor. Popular sweet varieties include Honeycrisp and Fuji, while popular tangy varieties include Granny Smith and Braeburn.

Apples are considered a high acid food, so it is safe to use the hot water bath method of canning outlined below. Although, if you have the equipment and want a slightly faster way to process apples you can also pressure can applesauce. It's actually one of the few foods you can choose to can using either method.

Making your own applesauce is quite easy and doesn't take much time if you choose to freeze it. Canning applesauce takes about twice as long but if you're limited on room in the freezer- it's the better option.

Here's the short version: The best way to prevent browning is to soak the cut fruit in a saltwater solution (half a teaspoon of kosher salt per cup of water) for 10 minutes, then drain and store until ready to use.

Spices: I use a cinnamon stick, star anise, and vanilla extract for my homemade applesauce. The combination tastes amazing. Lemon: Lemon juice keeps the apples from turning brown and balances their sweetness. The best applesauce is both sweet and tart, and lemon juice helps achieve that.

We hold our apples to a higher standard. That's why our No Sugar Added Applesauce is thick and delicious, like the real, high quality apples they're made from.

The best varieties for canning apples are crisp, not mealy, types. Some of the best apples for canning include Fuji, Braeburn, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Jazz, Honeycrisp, and Cortland.

Pour prepared applesauce into jars: Fill jars with applesauce leaving 1/2” of headspace. Use a small rubber spatula to scrape down the inside of the jar and remove any air bubbles. Wipe jar rims clean. Process in water-bath canner for 20 minutes.

What can you put on an apple slice to keep it from turning brown? ›

Method #1: Lemon Juice

Therefore, when you apply lemon juice to apple slices, it helps to prevent the oxidation process. To use this method to prevent apples from turning brown, create a water bath for your apple slices with a ratio of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of water.

To help prevent the peeled apples from browning, dip the pieces in a lemon water bath or an ascorbic acid mixture, such as Fruit-Fresh (follow the instructions on the container). For a lemon water bath, fill a large bowl with about a gallon of cold water and juice from one lemon or 1/2 cup of bottled lemon juice.

Ascorbic acid is an excellent food preserving agent because it helps maintain the natural color of certain foods, especially fruits, vegetables and even meats that turn brown when cut open and exposed to oxygen. Ascorbic acid has a bitter, acidic flavor. Ascorbic acid, mixed with water, helps prevent browning.

Some of the apple varieties have red pigment right under the skin and when cooked will look more pink. I actually had some turn pink this week as well from my Braeburn apples. Enjoy your apples sauce. It will be perfect for the holidays.