North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Sam Franc <franc@harborside.com>]

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Am I to understand you put 3 knives in the bottom of the pot, a plate on top 
of them
and then the apples?

jhecksel@voyager.net wrote:

>
> Greetings all:
>
> Please excuse the lateness of my posting to this thread.  I wanted to play 
> around
> with making some applesauce and this weekend was the soonest I could get to 
> it.
>
> Steaming the apples whole is what worked best for me.  I am sure there are 
> gizmos
> one can buy for the purpose, but the last thing I need is one more thing to 
> lose.
> Before I threw in the apples into my 19 qt canning kettle, I put in three 
> stainless
> steel table knives and a heat resistant dinner plate on top of them.  I add 
> about a
> quart and a half of liquid (water or cider depending on my mood).  I pick 
> the
> apples and wash them.  Then I put them whole into the kettle.  Then I crank 
> up the
> heat.
>
> |oooooooo|
> |oooooooo|
> | _______ |
> |   knives    |
> -----------
>
> Last year I was plagued with scorching apples.  We did 32 quarts this 
> weekend and
> steaming them worked slick.  The only other thing I learned, again, is to 
> add extra
> liquid when making sauce of less than fully ripe apples....either that or 
> cook the
> devil out of them before canning.  The less ripe apples still have starch 
> in them
> and they make a thick sauce that does not let the gasses escape.  The sauce 
> tends
> to blow out beneath the lids.  Yuck!
>
> Best regards from Eaton Rapids, Michigan.  The town that takes Eat-on Rapid
> seriously!