When we purchased our homesteading land – 80 acres in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan – we were so happy that it had mature apple trees scattered everywhere! We knew we had to take advantage and freeze apples and make applesauce.
When our first harvest season came, we were completely unprepared for how to handle all the apples we could potentially preserve. We used this tool to core and peel them and then freeze most of them. We also made some applesauce and froze it too. We weren’t able to can it yet unfortunately as we were living without an oven.
We knew there had to be a better way to preserve our abundant apple harvest. We wanted a year’s worth of apple chips and applesauce but just didn’t have the time to preserve it all just during harvest season before the apples went bad.
That’s when last year we decided to try this method we basically made up ourselves! It worked and we were able to enjoy our apples all winter long. We still have some more before run out just in time for the next harvest season.
Here is how we freeze apples and make applesauce…
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Freezing Whole Apples
We have several deep freezers because we raise or hunt all our meat on the homestead. We decided to dedicate our medium deep freezer to strictly apples!
It began with collecting only the best and tastiest apples we could from our various apple trees. Then we placed them in the freezer whole. Basically, straight off the tree and then into the freezer! We would line the bottom with one layer, then use old feed bags to separate the next layer.
So on and so on, we layered the entire medium deep freezer until it was full! Now it may not be ideal to keep a deep freezer like that running all year for some people, but for the season of life we are currently in, it is our best option.
The apples stayed great the entire year they were in the freezer. As we needed them, we just pulled them out and brought them inside.
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Using The Instant Pot
The next step is to bring a 5-gallon pail inside full of frozen apples when you are ready to make applesauce. We have two instant pots that we use to cook the apples. We add a tiny bit of water and let the instant pot come to full pressure.
As soon as it comes to pressure, we cancel it and let the steam release. This defrosts the apples and cooks them enough to be turned into applesauce without overcooking them. You want to preserve as much of the nutrition as possible, so don’t overcook them. Also, don’t add too much water otherwise your applesauce will be runny.
We definitely love using our instant pot when we freeze apples and make applesauce! It makes the process quick and easy. And now that we have two instant pots, it saves time too.
Once the apples come out of the instant pot, we let them cool for a little while before moving on to the next step.
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Applesauce Maker
For Christmas this year my husband gifted me with this kitchen gadget I had been needing to make this whole process possible! It is truly like magic in some ways and makes saucing fruits and vegetables so easy.
You place the apples in the hopper and turn the crank. Out one end comes all the applesauce and out the other end comes the seeds, core, and peels.
I’m looking forward to using this tool, even more, this coming year. For example, I’ll be freezing my tomatoes as they become ripe and then putting them through the saucer when I have time to preserve them!
I hope to also use the extra attachments for making jams, jellies, and other purees this year too. It makes the process when you freeze apples and make applesauce so convenient!
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Freeze Drying Applesauce
This last step is optional of course. You can place the applesauce in your fridge and just eat it fresh as you want! Or you can then preserve it in its applesauce form.
We love our freeze dryer and usually make enough to keep half of it for fresh eating and half of it for a load in the freeze dryer. Then we have applesauce ready to go in the future whenever we’d like it! You just have to add water and it rehydrates back to normal.
At harvest time we also used our freeze dryer to make apple chips during harvest season. It was so nice having these on hand all winter and munching on them. Hopefully this year we can preserve even more apple chips!
We love our freeze dryer for how simple it makes preserving food. If we keep freeze-drying some of the applesauce, then hopefully we won’t need to freeze as many whole apples in the years to come and can save energy on running a deep freezer.
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Let me know in the comments – is this a new way to freeze apples and make applesauce for you? Will you be giving it a try? I hope it is helpful to you and you can enjoy fresh applesauce all year long as well.
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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