There is very little that beats the taste of homemade applesauce, and it is so easy to make!

How sweet your applesauce will be, will depend on the apple you pick – I feel that most apples will do, but I would avoid the really sour ones such as Granny Smith apples.  For my applesauce I use either Pink Lady or a Gala apple, which are the ones I can usually find at the supermarket.

Applesauce can be used as a side dish to sausages or, more traditionally, chicken or black pudding, but you can easily eat is as one of your Five-a-Day, as a snack in between meals or as dessert on itself or with yoghurt.

Ingredients for your own:

• 5 – 6 apples of your choice, peeled, cored and quartered
• approx. 2 teaspoons of a sugar of your choice, depending on how sweet your apples are. Alternatively, you can use raw honey instead
• a splash of water
• knob of butter

Method:

First you peel, quarter and core your apples.  Melt a little butter in a deep pan and cut the apple quarters in small pieces.  Add the apple pieces to the pan once the butter is melted.  Add your splash of water and half the sugar or honey and stir well.  Place on a medium heat and close with a lid.  Now leave to stew for 20 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the apples are tender and cooked through.

Once the apples are cooked through, remove your pot from the heat.  If you like a chunky applesauce, you can leave the sauce as is, or you can mash the apple chunks to get a finer result.  If you like a real smooth apple sauce, I recommend you purée your sauce  in a blender to get rid of all the chunks.

Whilst trying not to burn yourself, taste a little bit of the applesauce to check if it is sweet enough. If preferred sweeter, you can add more sugar. If too sweet, you can try to unsweetened it with a little lemon juice, but seeing we’re opting for a quite natural sweetness this should/would be unlikely.

Enjoy!