From Scratch to Scrumptious

Learning to can homemade applesauce is easier than you think! Preserve your own homemade applesauce with only a big pot, canning jars and a few simple tools. Enjoy for up to a year!

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If you read the last article, How to Make Homemade Applesauce, you may be sitting with a nice, big batch of homemade cinnamon applesauce and wondering how you can find enough space in the freezer.

Save yourself the headache of rearranging your freezer! Save the freezer space for other things! Preserve your homemade applesauce with the simple steps below and store the jars in the pantry!

Equipment You Need to Can Homemade Applesauce

Home-canning fruits and jams is easier than many people think. You probably already have a “water bath canner”. That’s just a pot big enough to cover your tallest jar with at least 1″ of water.

If you are going to can homemade foods, I recommend this set of Canning Essentials (Amazon link), which includes a Jar Lifter, Wide-Mouth Funnel, and Headspace Tool.

For applesauce, you’ll also need either Pint-Sized Canning Jars with lids (8-pack Amazon link here) or Quart-Sized Canning Jars with lids (12-pack Amazon link here, 4-pack Amazon link here).

My favorite canning brand is “Ball”. That’s what I use for my jars and canning equipment. The Ball and Kerr brand are owned by the same company, so their products are the same. (You can see the “Kerr” on the jar in my picture above if you look closely enough.)

How to Can Homemade Applesauce

Sterilize Jars

Submerge jars in a water bath canner, covering with water at least 1″ higher than the tallest jar. Cover with the lid. Boil for 10 minutes. Then keep the pot at a low simmer until the applesauce is ready to can.

Cook Homemade Applesauce

Cook applesauce. Mash or blend to your liking. Bring to a low boil. Remove the applesauce from the heat only when you are ready to fill jars.

Fill the Jars

Remove 1 jar from the water bath canner at a time. The jars have to stay boiling hot until immediately before you fill them.

The easiest way to get jars out of boiling hot water without burning yourself is by using a Jar Lifter. I like the Jar Lifter that comes with this Canning Essentials kit because you can use 1 hand to lift your jars and hold them securely.

Use the Wide-Mouth Funnel to fill jars with hot applesauce, leaving a 1/2″ headspace. (This is where a Headspace Tool really comes in handy. Easy to measure; easy to wash!)

Important: Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to a quart jar or 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice to a pint jar. This increases the acidity, making bacteria less likely to grow. Use bottled lemon juice (not freshly squeezed), which has a standard pH level.

Why is Headspace Important?

The amount of air left at the top of a jar allows the seal to set properly. Too much air or too little air could cause a seal to fail.

Different foods require different amounts of headspace. For applesauce, 1/2″ of headspace is required.

Cover the Jars

Wipe the rim of the glass jar with a damp cloth. If there’s any applesauce on the rim, it may prevent the lid from sealing properly.

Top with a lid and screw on the rings only “fingertip tight”. That means, only screw the lids on until you feel like they’re on. Don’t be a muscleman. You still want air to escape when you submerge the jar in water.

Process Jars

Process jars (ie: boil them with the lid on) for 15 minutes for pint jars or 20 minutes for quart jars (or more if you are at an elevation higher than 1,000 feet). Find the chart for Adjusting for High-Altitude Canning here.

Turn off the heat and remove the lid of the water bath canner. Let sit 5 minutes. Remove jars from pot. Do not move for 24 hours.

Allow the Seal to Set

After 24 hours, check the seals. Did the center button pop down? If you push on it and can pop it down, it didn’t seal properly.

Remove the rings and try to remove the lid with your hands. Can’t do it? You’ve got a good seal!

What to do with Jars with Failed Seals

Option 1: Eat it immediately! Who could wait anyway?

Option 2: Put it in the fridge and eat it soon.

Option 3: Freeze: Move to a different container or remove some applesauce, leaving 1 – 1 ¹/₂” headspace before putting it in the freezer. The applesauce will expand as it freezes and could break the jar if you don’t leave enough room at the top.

Option 4: Reprocess the jar. In order to do this, you need to remove the applesauce from the jar, heat it to boiling and then have a hot, sanitized jar to pack it into with a new lid and boil it all over again.

Kind of a pain, but it you have 2 failed jars, it might be worth it.

If you have more than 1 jar fail to seal, check everything out. Check the jar tops for cracks. Check the lids. Be sure your applesauce is at a low boil before packing into hot jars. Check the processing time.

It may be a fluke, but better check out your equipment and canning instructions just to be safe.

Storing Canned Homemade Applesauce

As with all home-canned foods, store the jars in a cool, dark place. Canned foods are shelf-stable, so there’s no need to refrigerate.

Your homemade applesauce will be good up to a year from the canning date.

Checking Your Jars

Each time you remove a home-canned jar from your pantry, check the seal. The button should not “pop” when you push on the center.

If your seal has been compromised (your button pops or you can open the sealed lid with just your hands), do not eat the home-canned food! The food inside may be spoiled or contaminated with bacteria.

If you open a jar and the food smells “off”, don’t risk it!

I have never had a food spoil for as long as the lid was well-sealed. I did have 1 seal fail before the year was up (and that’s over many years of home-canning!). Unfortunately, I had to throw out the canned peaches from the failed jar. I cried, but I lived to tell the tale.

Canning Terms

Canning: Preserving food by sealing it in jars, making it shelf-stable

Fingertip-Tight: This is how you should twist your rings on after covering with a lid. Once you feel like your ring is “on”, stop tightening. Do not over-tighten your ring.

Headspace: The amount of air remaining between the top of the food and the lid of the jar. Most easily measured with a Headspace Tool.

Headspace Tool: Canning tool used to measure how much space is left at the top of the jar

Jar Lifter: Canning tool used to lift jars out of boiling water

Prepare Your Jars: In canning, a term used to mean “Sterilize your jars”.

Preserving: Sealing food in jars, making it shelf-stable

Process: Boiling the filled jars. Allows the seal to set. Processing time depends on the size of the jar and what food is being canned.

Sterilize: You can kill any bacteria that may be on your jars by boiling them in water for 10 minutes.

Water Bath Canner: A large pot deep enough to cover your tallest jar by 1″

Wide-Mouth Funnel: A funnel that has a spout the same size as the top of a standard canning jar

Happy Canning!

If you try out home-canning, please leave a comment below!