# to peel or not to peel?



## Taratunafish (Aug 6, 2007)

Hello all. First time applesauce canning experience in a week's time. My friend has canned before and spent the monotonous hours peeling apples before ricing them. She was watching Rachel Ray the other day and someone on the show said that with certain apples, you don't have to bother peeling them first. They can still be riced and you can just pluck the peel out of the ricer intact. 

Advice on this please? Which apples would apply to this tactic? 

thanks!!!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I have no idea what a ricer is or how it works. I have never peeled my apples for sauce. I don't peel my pears when I am making sauce either. In fact, I don't think I peel any fruit that I am going to make into sauce. . .

For apples and pears, I wash them good, cut them in quarters. Remove any yucky spots and cut off the blossum and stem end. I've read that the blossom end can give them a bitter taste.

Then I load up my big roaster pan with just enough water on the bottom so they don't burn down. Stir them in an hour or so and let them steam/cook until they are all soft. I think that takes 2 -3 hours. I check on them 2 -3 times but that is about it.

Then I let them cool slightly and run them through my strainer attachment for my KA mixer, and that does fine removing peel and seeds.

I typically use my small apples for sauce - they would be a lot of work to peel.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Never peeled an apple for applesauce here, either.


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

This question came up a couple of weeks back and as I posted then, I can't even imagine leaving the peels on for making applesauce. And I do know that the approved recipe instructions for making applesauce do call for peeling the apples to both reduce the bacterial count in the finished sauce and to improve the texture.

But apparently some prefer the peels on for some reason :shrug: as the results on that discussion seemed to be about 50-50. So I guess it is your choice. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.


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## Taratunafish (Aug 6, 2007)

I was searching on YouTube and one woman demonstrator mentioned that leaving the peels on lengthens the cook time because of the pectin in the peels? I think I'd rather spend the time peeling for less time cooking. If I can bribe my friend's son into helping, there will be three of us peeling. Maybe then it won't feel like such a chore?


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

I've done it both ways. One way was to slice and core, but not peel the apples, cook them down slowly and run them through the mill when they're soft. The peels won't go through the food mill and you get nice, dark applesauce. It's a pain to keep scraping the peels out of the mill though. 

The other way is to peel, slice and core the apples cooking them down as before. I still run them through the mill ( which would be similar to a ricer ) to catch any bits of core or peel that got missed, but you can put most of them through before you have to scrape the mill. The sauce is lighter in color.

Either way, the sauce tastes great.


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Why not just get an apple peeler and corer? I got one like this at a local Atwoods ( farm store) FOR $20.00. 

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/...oglebase&cvsfa=63&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=313532323331


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## Charleen (May 12, 2002)

Macybaby said:


> I have no idea what a ricer is or how it works. I have never peeled my apples for sauce. I don't peel my pears when I am making sauce either. In fact, I don't think I peel any fruit that I am going to make into sauce. . .
> 
> For apples and pears, I wash them good, cut them in quarters. Remove any yucky spots and cut off the blossum and stem end. I've read that the blossom end can give them a bitter taste.
> 
> ...


This is what I do except I don't have an attachment for my KA, I use a hand cranked food mill. Wash the apples really well - Cortlands make the sauce a pretty pink color. Mine don't seem to need that long of a cooking time either. I do the same for pears. And I make an apple/pear sauce, too.


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## Taratunafish (Aug 6, 2007)

thanks for the advice. I bought a corer/peeler/slicer last night, though my friend is an old-fashioned paring knife peeler. I'll let her call the shots on this as she's done this before and I've never made anything beyond an apple pie or crisp!! I'll bring my mill and corer/peeler/slicer and a big pot to offer up anything she might find more appealing and what I might find more easier for the job. How many of you put vanilla in your sauces?


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

judylou said:


> to improve the texture.


?? Not sure how peeling the apple first would change the texture of the finished sauce. Once the apples are soft you run them through a food mill which removes the skins, seeds and core (just takes a few minutes). Do some people that leave the skins on NOT do this step? 

Those that peel first, do you not use some method to smash the apple into sauce.....or do you just cook it till it does it itself? Never heard of this method, so it intrigues me.

My mom uses one of those peeler corer things to make apple pies (she usually make 5-6 at a time). But it leaves so much apple on the peel and core that she then cooks all the peels and cores and ends of with a few pints of applesauce. I can't afford to toss out pints of food by peeling and coring apples before making sauce.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

If I make applesauce I don't peel first, I cut in quarters and remove core and blossom end. I just cook down and run through a cone ricer.

http://foodperson.com/2007/09/03/the-right-tool-makes-sauce-a-snap/.

Mostly I cook peel, core and half eack quarter, cook for 5 minutes, fill jars and presure apples in quarts, I can use this for sauce, apple pie filling, apple dumplings, and apple cinnamon rolls....james


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## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

I am a peeler and I just throw them in a big stock pot and cook until they are soft. That doesn't take very long at all. I don't want my applesauce to be chunky, I prefer it to be smooth, so I run it through the blender. Then when it's all blended I put it back in the stock pot and heat until it's good and hot.
The corer that I posted has adjustments to you can set it to the depth of the peeling you desire. There is never much left on the core either.


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

I don't peel the apples, either, since the food mill does such a good job of separating the peel from the apple. I do core them, although when you think about it, that wastes some of the apple as well.

The peels give the sauce such a nice rosy color.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I don't peel either and I cook the quarters in the microwave - about 6 minutes for a large bowl full. I put it from the strainer right to the jar and can it up. I add sugar, if needed, when I open the jars to use the sauce. I love my sauce chunky so I peel one quarter apple for each pint jar and cut it into pieces. Sometimes I add raspberries, blueberries, peaches or ...mangoes..


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Gracious, I'm lazy ... I wash the apples, cut into chunks, put in the pot (seeds, cores, stems, peels and all) and cook! I mash with the potato masher and stir every so often, and when I can squish anything I poke at with a fork I deem it "reasonably soft" and run it through the food mill and voila - sauce!

Like Callieslamb I sometimes add other fruits for flavour and colour - and much of the time the finished sauce goes in the dehydrator to become fruit leather.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

No peeling here either. Just like frazzlehead, they're chunked, cooked, and run through the mill. At my house that's the KA attachment.


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

frazzlehead said:


> Like Callieslamb I sometimes add other fruits for flavour and colour


I had a handful of raspberries malingering in the fridge, and tossed them into the last quart or so of applesauce. Wow!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Tara, I've never put Vanilla extract in, but have used cinnamon. But that sounds like a good idea to try it.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

You can add the vanilla when you open it, if you wish. It gives a sweeter taste with less sugar.


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## lovinthislife (Aug 28, 2009)

I'm doing applesauce right now. I never peel or core. I wash, cut up and cook down and run it thru the food mill. It will not be chunky once it's run through the mill. It's the same consistency as if I'd peeled. 

If you do peel, your losing a lot of apple. nothing gets into the finished product like seeds or pieces of peel.

This year I'm filling my casserole dishes with the cut up apples and some water. I'm hoping they'll cook down good in there. I have 4 9x13 casseroles full of apples.


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

I don't peel either. 
I quarter the apples, cutting away any bad spots, cook them until soft and run them through my Victorio strainer . Works great!


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## tallpines (Apr 9, 2003)

My mother always worked so hard at getting SMOOTH apple sauce--------------and then I came home from Gramma's one day raving about Gramma's applesauce. It had Chunks in it and was so good!


So now I'm the Gramma.............and my grandchildren LOVE my applesauce.

Yup! My applesauce is chunky!


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