Mother's Apple Sauce

We had a tone of apples in our fridge; some left over from our Vermont trip in August, some which we've bought since. Perhaps we should be more judicious in our apple buying.

This is my mother's recipe which she made all through my childhood. We would buy bushels of apples every season from a place called Smithy's on the east side of Saint John. Afterwards she would can the apple sauce, among other fruits; notably pears (they figured hugely in my mind). We would keep the apples on our back porch. The whole place would smell of apples; fond memories. The apples would be cold and crisp, delicious in my opinion; I definetly prefer my fruit cold.

This is not so much of a recipe as a procedure. There are no measurements only a basic method and suggestions (I've added a few of my own).

1. Wash, peel, fourth and core apples.
2. Add some water (or I'd suggest some fruity liquid like pear juice) to prevent burning.
3. Cook over medium low heat. As the apples soften break then up and stir.
4. Season with sugar (or any sweetner of your choice; I'm curious about Chinese rock sugar). Note that you must do this by taste since apples will vary in sweetness every time.
   
5. Season additionally with anything you fancy; perhaps lemon juice, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, raisins or nuts (or maybe wasabi, star anise, five spice powder, or ginger?)
6. Consistency is a matter of preference or intended usage. Some like their apple sauce thick and chunky others like it smooth like the store bought.
   

• To make it thinner add more liquid.
• For chunky sauce don't break up the apples so much.
  
• Thicker; cook it very low and reduce by evaporation.
• Silky smooth, try running it through the blender.