Homemade Applesauce With Kids

What to do with a peck of fresh picked apples? Make homemade applesauce with the kids!

Where I grew up, we didn’t have to go far for apple picking. Several of our neighbors had small apple orchards – they would pick and supply the apples and we would rent an apple cider press. The whole neighborhood crew would take turns loading the apples, hand cranking the press, and emptying the pump. My mom is mostly sure we washed the apples, but those were the days of bobbing for apples so who really knows.

Dean and I continued the fall apple tradition with our kiddos, now 6 and 4. Our favorite orchard provides wagons, which the kids initially loved riding in and now love pulling through the trees. Instead of apple cider, we make homemade applesauce with the kids from our apple bounty.

This is a messy endeavor, so we make it worth our while by canning a big batch of applesauce. The hand-crank food strainer makes processing the apples very easy, and fun for the kiddos.

With no added sugar, this applesauce is a healthy snack or great as an oil substitute for baking. The kiddos love recounting our picking and processing adventures while eating their homemade applesauce.

Check out some of our other favorite recipes:

• Aebleskiver Recipe
• Rhubarb Zucchini Bread
• Homemade Cinnamon Granola

Selecting Apples for Homemade Applesauce

We blend a variety of apples in our homemade applesauce with kids for two reasons. First, a mix of sweet, sour, and tart apples gives a rounded flavor to the applesauce. Mixing sweet and tart apples gives plenty of sweetness to the applesauce, so no extra sugar is needed.

Second, we use self-picked apples from an orchard and tend to pick randomly from trees. Every year I honestly believe I’ll remember which apples came from which trees, but as soon as the 5th apple plonks into the bag, I realize I won’t be able to identify a single apple. Last year we picked Macoun, Gala, Mutsu, Empire, and something green. This year, we picked earlier and ended up with Gala, Summer Mac, Silken, and Ginger Gold.

Recipe: Homemade Applesauce With Kids

Makes 9 pints of applesauce
Prep Time: wash and cook apples 20 minutes (30 with kids)
Prep Time: process apples 30 minutes with kids

Equipment for Homemade Applesauce

Homemade Applesauce Ingredients

• 1 peck of apples

How to Make Homemade Applesauce With Kids

Prepare and Cook the Apples

Set up an apple washing station with lots of towels and put the kids to work washing the apples. Keep an eye out as your handy helpers may decide to wash their toy cars at the same time…

Remove the stems. This is a great time to teach the kids to twist the stem while saying the alphabet until it pops off. Younger kids may need help with stubborn stems.

With the food strainer, peeling the apples is not required.

Quarter the apples. We let the adults handle cutting and cooking the apples.

Place quartered apples into a large stock pot. Cook in two batches if you don’t have a large enough pot. Add 2″ of water and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer for 15 minutes, until apples are tender. Remove from heat. Let the apples cool so they aren’t too hot for young kiddos to handle.

Process Apples

This is the fun (and messy) part. Set up the food strainer. Show the kids how the strainer works; they love watching the sauce stream out and the pulp pile up.

Kids can add the cooked and cooled apple, use the plunger to push the apples into the strainer, and turn the crank to process the apples.

Working with kids definitely makes this a longer and messier process, but lots of fun for all!

Enjoy and Preserve

Applesauce can be eaten immediately or stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week. Whatever you can’t consume in a week should be preserved. Freeze applesauce in freezer-safe containers allowing some room for expansion. For smaller servings, freeze applesauce in ice cube trays. Once frozen, remove and store in freezer safe containers. Label and mark the date on the container.

We prefer to can the applesauce using water bath preserving.

Label and mark the date on the jar or ask kiddos to label (some deciphering or additional information may be needed depending on the child’s comfort with writing). With any canned food, be sure to check that the jar lid properly sealed. You should not be able to pull the lid off; a jar opener or metal utensil should be needed.

Have you made homemade applesauce with your kiddos? Let us know how it goes!

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