On Sunday I collected a lovely big bag of windfall apples at a harvest for Hidden Harvest, a local social business that collects fruits and nuts that would otherwise rot on the trees, and shares it with our food banks and shelters. Most of the apples were destined for the stable where my horse lives, but as I was browsing through Sir Kenelm Digby’s cookbook, I spotted this recipe for apple sauce.
To Stew Apples
Pare them and cut them into slices. Stew them with wine and water as the pears, and season them in like manner with spice. Towards the end sweeten them with sugar, breaking the apples into pap by stirring them. When you are easy to take them off, put in goo store of fresh store of fresh butter, and incorporate it well with them, bag them together. You se between two dishes. The quickest are the best.
To stew wardens or pears
Pare them, put them into a pipkin, with so much red or claret-wine and water, as will near reach to the top of the pears. Stew or boil them gently, till they grow tender, which may be in two hours. After a while, put in some sticks of cinnamon bruised and a few cloves. When they are almost done, put in sugar enough to season them well and their syrup, which you pour out upon them in a deep plate.
The Closet of Kenelm Digby’s, Kt., Opened
Brewing and Cookery
1677, p. 194
Falconwood Press
To make this, I peeled and sliced about 6 cups of apples, added a cup each of water and red wine brought them to the boil and then let them simmer for a bit. Then I added a cinnamon stick and 6 cloves plus 3 Tbsp of sugar and simmered for a bit longer. From time to time, I gave the apples a good stir so they would run to mush. The apple sauce is like a tart apple pie filling. I like it tart, but you may wish to adjust the sugar quantity to your taste.
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