Brilliant idea?

[bethzaring]

I've been making and canning apple sauce for decades and almost always end up with some amount of burned material on the bottom of the pan. When I canned apple sauce last week I had an idea to Gerry-rig a way to keep the apples off the bottom on the pan and it worked, sort of. This collapsible steamer basket was what I wanted to use but had bought a given them away several times over the years. I just bought two and am anxious to try them on my next batch of apple sauce. The apples stayed suspended over the steaming water and I even canned the resulting juice left in the bottom of the pan. I could also steam the apples as long as I wanted, knowing they would not burn to the bottom. Oh, I also bought the attachments to use my Kitchen Aid mixer to puree the apples into sauce. I wish I had done this a few years ago!

 

[GinnyPNW]

That sounds like a great idea! And, that steamer seems to go flatter than many. Let us know how it works out!

 

[blissful]

That's a great idea @bethzaring
Even though it's just the 2 of us (and renting son), I mostly can larger amounts because mr bliss helps. But if it was just me canning, or just for myself, I wouldn't use an 18 qt roaster, I'd need a smaller solution like you show in your post.
For apple sauce and pear sauce, I put them in an 18 qt roaster (nothing added), steam them with the top on, until the liquid fills up, then boil off some of the liquid.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Brilliant @bethzaring !
I just made a batch of Chunky Applesauce, I'll try your method next go-around.

I used this to make the "sauce"

A meat masher from Dollar Tree. I got a nice chunky-saucy consistency

 

[bethzaring]

I'm prepping for canning apple sauce tomorrow. My technique for many years has been to cook the stuffing's out of the apples, until the skin disintegrates and the only thing caught in the strainer are the seed coats. I'll report back tomorrow!