This weekend I was still recovering from being sick. I didn’t have any big plans. The next two weekends are booked. So it seemed like the right time to make my annual applesauce. The local farm store didn’t have much selection in B grade apples. Plenty of Cortlands and McIntosh’s which would have made an ok applesauce according to past records, but I like a more complex flavor. I snagged one of the few Macoun bags and then spotted a single Northern Spy bag. My notes indicate the one time I used Northern Spy it came out less tangy, and I think a bit more liquid. But that was also the only time I used Arkansas Black. In this case I would just be swapping Northern Spy for Mutsu in my favorite mix.

All my helpers vanished for the day, so I did the whole process by myself. I couldn’t make the applesauce fast enough to continuously can, so I ended up letting the canning pot cool off a little between batches, and then preheat the next set of empty jars. As a result, I only had one jar crack and that was during preheating.

• 1/2 bushel Cortland
• 1/2 bushel McIntosh
• 1/2 bushel Macoun
• 1/2 bushel Northern Spy

The final applesauce was quite thick. Thicker than any of my other apple mixes. It’s tasty, but not tangy. 31 quarts.