Skip A Step And Leave The Peels On When Making Your Own Applesauce

Whether you've picked a dozen in-season apples from the orchard or opted for grocery store Granny Smiths, homemade applesauce is a great — and easy — use for the delicious fruit. In making your own applesauce, the bulk of the heavy lifting comes down to the preparation process; many homemade applesauce recipes call for peeled, then chopped, apples. Peeling apples, however, takes some time and is a preliminary step that isn't actually necessary for making this tasty treat.

The next time you make a batch from scratch, it's perfectly fine to save yourself some time and keep the skins on your apples. While there are plenty of ways to use apple peelings, the skins serve just as many purposes when left on. If you're using red apples, for example, the skins will color your applesauce with a nice pink shade. They also bring extra flavor and nutrients. In fact, apple peels contain all kinds of vitamins, so if you're looking to preserve the nutritional benefits of your fruit, keep the skins in place. Of course, you may still prefer ultra-smooth applesauce over anything with chunks of peel. But there's any easy way to achieve that — no peeling necessary.

Leave your apple peeler in the drawer, and head straight to your stovetop. Without peeling your apples, you can make your own recipe far more efficiently than applesauce sans skin. All you have to do is cut up your apples — yes, with the peels still intact — and heat the chunks on the stove. You should add some water and, for flavored applesauce, perhaps a dash of cinnamon or sugar. Once your apples turn soft and mushy, mash them to your desired texture. For the smoothest sauce, transfer the apples to a blender and process on high speed.

To make matters even easier, recipes for applesauce with and without skins follow this same, basic process. So why not skip a step and keep the skins attached? This way, your applesauce will come together quickly with no loss in flavor and smoothness. In fact, apple skins contain pectins, which are responsible for the creamy, silky consistency of your favorite brands. Keeping them on not only saves you time, but also improves taste and texture.