Comfort food, according to Wikipedia, comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone. Yep, that surely fits Red Hot applesauce! From a young age I remember looking forward to Grandma’s delicious Red Hot applesauce. She would peal and core apples, then cook them down into a chunky applesauce and then add the Red Hot candies. The result was a delicious chunky bright red treat. Oh the memories!!
How to Make Red Hot Applesauce
For the essence of time, I do my applesauce just a little different now though. I fill my large stockpot (I believe it’s a 22 quart +/-) with quartered apples and then set it to simmering for a few hours until the apples are soft. I then run them through my Deluxe Food Strainer and Sauce Maker (affiliate link). By running the apples through the food strainer I don’t have chunky applesauce like my grandma did, but it makes it easier and faster for me to make large quantities of applesauce. Which is quite handy, especially when I’m trying to work up a lot of apples and get them canned.
After I run them through the strainer I generally end up with about 7 quarts of applesauce depening on the type of apples I use. While the applesauce is still warm/hot I add the Red Hots (affiliate link). Generally, I had about 2 ozs of Red Hots per 7 quarts but you can add more or less based on your preference. If the applesauce is still warm the Red Hots will start to melt right away. Just stir to mix. When all the Red Hots are dissolved, I ladle this wonderful childhood memory into quart jars and process according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Although my applesauce is smooth instead of chunky, the result is still just as delicious. While the kids love Red Hot applesauce just as much as I always have, I also can plain applesauce and cinnamon applesauce, that way we have a variety of applesauce on the shelves.
Blessings,
Jennifer
