The best kind of apples

I must admit, I was getting a bit down about the apple situation this year. Due to the early warm-up in March followed by the return to colder temps in April, there were a lot of fruit tree crop failures around here. I had been hunting for someplace to go apple picking for a reasonable price, or even someplace to pick up a bunch of well-priced "seconds," but I was coming up empty.

So imagine my delight when we arrived downstate for a family visit last weekend and the in-laws mentioned that their backyard apple tree is full of apples this year...and that we were welcome to all the apples we could pick!



We picked about 50 pounds, most of which will become applesauce. Ask me how excited I am. (Hint: So freakin' excited!)



I have no idea what breed of apples these are, but I know from a few years ago that they are perfect for applesauce and make a decent pie, too. And I know that they were free, fun to pick, and a nice surprise, all of which make them pretty darn great.



Adelaide was kind of hilarious about the squishy dropped apples that were on the ground. When she'd come across one, she'd stop, point, and kind of freak out. File "It's just a squished apple, it's okay" under sentences I didn't think I'd ever have to repeat fifty times in one day.



So, applesauce: freeze it or can it? In the past I've only frozen it because my batches have been really small. This seems like it might be a canning-worthy batch, though. I don't know if I have the freezer space for this kind of haul. But, on the other hand, I am a little afraid of canning. It just seems complicated. On the other other hand, I want to learn to can sooner or later, so maybe I should just jump in. Either way, I suppose I'd better figure something out soon, because there are a lot of apples in the basement and possibly more on the way!