Applesauce, the old-fashioned way

Remember these apples, the wild apples Marash Girl gathered while at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont? Returning from New York City late Saturday night, Marash Girl decided that Sunday was the day to prepare  those all natural, organically grown (by God) apples, turning them into all natural apple sauce for the Thanksgiving table!  Planning ahead, (not one of Marash Girl's strengths), as soon as she had gathered the apples, she had ordered a replacement for the food mill that was lost in the tornado in June, and by the time she returned from New York City, the food mill (made of stainless steel, of course) was waiting to do its thing, which in this case was to assist Marash Girl in the making of all natural apple sauce!  Marash Girl started by washing all the apples with water, removing any bruises (from their fall to the ground), cutting the apples in half, removing the dried brown blossom left at the base of the apples (to avoid any possibility of dark specks going through the food mill into the applesauce).  She then placed all the apples in a heavy pot with about an inch of boiling water (or you could try all natural apple cider for the liquid) at the bottom of the pot and simmered the apples for about 15 minutes, or until they were soft. (See below.)

She placed the food mill securely on a large pot and placed the cooked softened apples into the food mill, a cup or two at a time.  Every so often she removed the residue at the bottom of the food mill by turning the handle in reverse, discarding the residue into the compost, and starting anew with another batch of cooked apples.  The resulting applesauce (see below) is tart and delicious, but sugar can be added if your family prefers sweet applesauce.    This applesauce will be covered and refrigerated until Thanksgiving. If you make as much applesauce as Marash Girl did, you may want to freeze some of it for Christmas!

The color of the applesauce reflects the various colors of the apples used to make the sauce.  Stirring will make the sauce uniform in color, should that be your preference.