# applesauce vs apple jam



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

So there is something I don't understand. If apples make pectin, and you can use apples in place of pectin, or to make your own pectin, then why does applesauce stay as sauce instead of becoming jam?


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## Limon (Aug 25, 2010)

You make pectin from _un_ripe fruit. You make applesauce from ripe apples.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I've made jam from apple sauce, you just got to cook and cook it until it reaches the right stage to firm up. 

For pectin, you want less ripe apples, and cook the snot out of them before you strain them - you want major mush before you strain it and add a lot less water than for either applesauce or apple juice. 

I have several jam recipes that I substitute home made applesauce for chopped apples, and so far they turn out fine, though I've had to mess with them a bit to get the quantity to work out.

The only thing I know of that is made with raw apples (no cooking at all) is apple cider.


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

for pectin to gel, you need a combination of sugar, pectin and acid. Applesauce typically doesn't have much sugar.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

So since I make sugarless jams, natural home made pectin wouldn't work for mine?


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

If you've ever made homemade pectin, you will see that it doesn't gel in the jar. It remains in liquid form. When you use homemade pectin, you are supposed to use equal amounts of fruit and sugar.

I don't really know the chemistry, but pomonas somehow needs calcium to gel.


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

From what I understand, the pectin is in the Apple skins. Cooking breaks it down and it leaches into the water to gel. Add sugar and strain it all through a cheesecloth or jelly bag leaving the solids behind to be discarded.

That how you make Apple JELLY.

Applesauce (recipes I've used) don't have any apple skins in them. You core and peel the apples, add citric acid to prevent browning and sugar. 

There's probably some pectin in the pulp of the fruit, so if you boil down the fruit (and add generous amounts of sugar) it thickens with the apple pulp solids and becomes jam. Usually you'll have to add some pectin to help it firm up properly.

Apple sauce by itself is not so shelf stable without refrigeration.

Apple JAM has the sugars concentrated so much that bacteria cannot (easily) grow in it, so it has a longer shelf stability without refrigeration. I think the term is hygroscopic er hydroscopic?

Take the apple jam and cook it further, then lay it out on some wax paper to dry out and you have APPLE FRUIT LEATHER

So the lowly apple can be transmuted into several tasty forms!

I've never made Apple BUTTER, so I can't honestly comment on it. Though I enjoy it, it takes me a year to get through a jar of the stuff.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

When I make applesauce, I grind in the skins, I don't use sugar and I don't use citric acid.


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

In short, I don't think there's a hard and fast rule on what defines apple sauce, apple butter, or apple jam. There looks to be a lot of room for overlap and what you colloquially would call each.

I think you can argue that an apple stomped on by a blind mule can be called applesauce.


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