Applesauce!

I was dismayed, on arriving in the UK, to find that they don't sell applesauce. Not as Americans know it, at least. Their "apple sauce" is a sauce like cranberry sauce, or mint sauce - more like a jelly, not the mushed apples I know and love.

So I looked up a recipe and it looked pretty easy, so I gave it a try. As one of my Gaelic teachers from the university says, it was "dead easy".  I don't have an apple corer and I didn't even need one! If you boil them enough, when you mash them, the skin and the core are easy to pick out. So! The reason I wanted to make applesauce is because I have a favourite Christmas-time drink called "Lambswool". Historically it is a hearty Medieval drink (alcoholic of course) which was spiced and warmed up and into which small apples (or crabapples) were boiled. When they burst, the apple flesh inside looked like wool.

Here it is an a jar. I love these jars - this is what Nutella comes in and when the Nutella is gone (which happens amazingly quickly!) the glass can be used for a cup or a jar.