Ingredients
- 4 apples, peeled and cored
- ½ bulb of fennel, chopped
- a few cloves
- up to ¾ c sugar
- juice and rind of a lemon
Apple Sauce / Apple Butter
Method
- Place apple, fennel and cloves and lemon rind in a pot with half an inch of water
- Cover and simmer until the apple is tender
- Fish out the cloves and rind, and blend the rest
- Adjust the sweet/sour balance with sugar and lemon juice to taste
- Either jar as apple sauce or, if continuing on to apple butter; pass through a fine sieve, and return to the heat with a further ½c of sugar and cook down, stirring occasionally, until the beginnings of candied apple notes waft from the pan
- Jar
Comments
Apple sauce is the iconic food stuff of my childhood. It appeared alongside roasted meats, and my late Oma’s baking be it in muffins or tarts where it brings depth of flavour and moisture. Take the sauce a step further, by returning it (with added sugar) to the heat after pureeing, results in an apple butter, the perfect partner to clotted cream on scones. In this recipe I’ve included some fragrant sweet fennel bulb for added interest.
