Stevia Sweetened Applesauce
Warm applesauce with a drizzle of cream.Now that fall is here it is apple season. Yum. So last week I went out and bought 30 lbs. of local jonagold apples. I read up on them and found out that they don’t store too well, but make great applesauce. So I decided to whip up a batch. I have made applesauce before, but the apples were so sweet that they did not require a sweetener at all. I hate the idea of adding sugar to applesauce so when this batch was a bit tart I decided to use stevia, with great results! Use whatever apples you’d like, but remember that they vary in sweetness, so you may need less or more stevia. Give it a try, it couldn’t be easier.
Stevia Sweetened Applesauce
5 lbs. jonagold apples, cored and chopped (see photos)
~ 1 t. lemon juice
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
pinch of salt
7 drops liquid stevia (I used NOW brand stevia glycerite)
To core apples you can either use a corer or do what I did and simply chop around the core.
Next chop apples into chunks. It really doesn’t matter as long as they are about the same size. I did about 1″ chunks. Place apples in a large pot that has been filled with 1/2″ water. Sprinkle lemon juice over apples and stir to combine. Cook on medium-low heat until apples are very soft. Mash apples with a potato masher. Add cinnamon and mix. Taste to see if it really needs a sweetener. If it does start with about 4 drops, taste again and add more as needed. Be careful to not add too much. You can always add more but can’t take it out *smile*. When it is sweetened to your liking and cooled enough to handle (i.e. not a bubbling hot cauldron) throw it into the blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Enjoy.
This post is a contribution to the In-Season Recipe Swap.
Hello! Thanks so much for posting this recipe!! I am very interested in incorperating more whole natural foods into our diets and I really love your blog!! I will adding you to my list of favorite blogs so I can come back and visit again!Thanks again!!Blessings,Toni
Love your blog! I am going to try your fermented salsa this week.
Anyhow, if I am going to make applesauce, I buy some Cortlands and leave them out in a warm kitchen for four or five days until they are really ripe. I then add them to whatever other apples I plan to make the applesauce with. The Cortlands get very sweet when ripe and you don’t have to add any sweetener to the applesauce. I’ve heard that MacIntoshs can be used the same way but I’ve never done that.
I used to work with a woman who had M.S. and as a result was extremely careful about her diet. She would use honeydew melons as a base for her applesauce because the melons add the sweetness without adding sugar. Her applesauce was the best I’ve ever had! She particularly liked Ida Red apples which are kind of hard to find in my area. The are apparently an old variety.