Apples...

Yesterday (Saturday) it rained all day, off and on--or so I am told (I was in a benadryl sleep induced fog most of the day).  Storms came through during the night, and this morning when we got to church we discovered most of the town had no electricity.  So, like our forefathers, we had church by candle and lamplight.  It was kid of neat.

Afterwards, we headed up to Maryville for my cousin Bills 65 birthday party.  I saw a couple of cousins who I had not seen in several years, so that was nice.

Tonight, I started in on my apples.  I have a bushel plus.  I got the "plus" part worked up to 6 quarts of apple pie filling.  And, I have about run out of quart jars.  I could do the apple pie filling in pints, but, since a pie takes a quart of filling, it makes more sense to conserve jars, rings and flats and just can it by the quart.

It was really a simple project...sort of.  The hardest part was getting my peeler/corer fastened onto the cabinet.

It is so much faster to use this device, although it does make a mess.  I tried to put a paper bag or cardboard under it when fastening it to the cabinet, but that just makes it slide.

After peeled and cored, I slice the rings into fourths.  Its kind of cool--the peel comes off in one long piece, and the apples come off in a spiral.

The slices are then soaked in a mixture of cold water and lemon juice.

Then, I made my gooey syrup  filling stuff--I used a 64 oz jar of apple juice, about a  1/2 cup of corn starch, and about 3 cups of sugar and a tablespoon or so of *apple pie spice*, and a teaspoonful of salt.  As it cooked, I added some more water as it started to thicken.  (Sorry, but I am one of those people who doesn't exactly measure.  And, I don't know the technical name of the gooey syrup stuff either.)  You have to keep stirring it or it will stick.  *I get apple pie spice from an Amish store--it is a mixture of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.  You can easily make your own, or just season to taste*

I  rinsed off the apple pieces, packed tight into a quart jar, then added the gooey stuff to about 1/2 inch from the top.  I removed the bubbles, put on the flats and rings and put them into a water bath canner for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, I turned off  the heat to the canner, removed the lid, and let it sit for about 5 minutes.  Then, I removed them from the canner and placed on a towel.  Never let a cool draft near your jars--I had one crack once when I did that....

I am down to only 2 quart jars left, so tomorrow I guess I go round up more jars!