It's apple season again! The apple guy at the farmer's market is selling amazing apples for $1/lb. We stock up on those for fresh eating, but if you ask he will sell you his culls for $5 a basket. The one time we weighed a basket, it was 22 lbs. Needless to say, we load up whenever he is there.
It's really not hard to make big batches of applesauce once you get the hang of it. Make sure to start early in the day. You will need a paring knife, a big slow cooker, and a food mill. Just cut out the bad spots with the paring knife, then put the apples into the slow cook. No need to peel and core. Put just a little water in the bottom of the slow cooker, like maybe 1/4", to get it started. Then close it up and let them cook. Once they're soft, run them through your handy-dandy food mill and let it do all the work peeling and coring for you. Put the milled apple sauce back into the slow cooker lid off and let it go for hours. Give it a good stir every once in a while to make sure it doesn't burn. It will turn into a thick caramelized (brown is good!) paste that tastes like candy. We freeze gallons of this stuff to eat during the winter. Beware, though, you'll never be able to eat the store-bought shit again.
I wanted to throw this out there. If you see a farmer selling fruit, ask him if he'll sell you his seconds for a good price. He will likely be more than happy to give you a good deal to get rid of them. And this is applies to more than apples. Peach culls make great smoothie or popsicles.
