Caramel Applesauce for Canning

If you’re a homemade applesauce fan, you have got to try this naturally caramel flavored applesauce for a tasty twist on a classic snack. Watch for the special ingredient that makes this applesauce taste like a caramel apple! This recipe is safe for canning so that you can enjoy it all year round! This article has been updated for your better use since its original publication in 2016.

Applesauce is in the Apples

First of all, you’ll want to pick a sweet apple for this recipe. Something like a Jonagold will work well.

You can choose one with a little bit of a bite to it, but not too much. To get that smooth caramel flavor, you don’t want something like a Granny Smith interfering with the flavor.

Applesauce is a great way to use up wormy, foraged, or surplus apples. Simply cut away any yucky parts, as well as the seeds and core, and your imperfect apples will be put to good use. I love zero waste recipes!

• You can also use imperfect fruit to make your own fruit leather.

To get your canning kitchen organized this year, join our free email newsletter family and get access to our member library with free resources for more homestead learning. Especially for you, we created canning schedule sheets from our book, Once a Month Canning which you can download for free from the member library!

Coconut Sugar for that Caramel Flavor

The key ingredient in this recipe, apart from quality apples, is coconut sugar, which imparts the caramel flavor to the applesauce.

• Rapadura, Succanat and even brown sugar will work to a degree. You’ll see that we mixed a few of those sugars into the recipe to give it depth.
• However, the best flavor will come from coconut sugar, in my opinion. If you don’t have that, you can use rapadura or succanat – though I think they taste more maple-y than caramel-y.

Another thing to note is that the amount of sugar in this recipe is adjustable to your desired flavor. Apples are acidic enough to safely water bath can on their own without the addition of sugar (an acidic preservative).

• Simply Canning can tell you how to make regular applesauce with or without added sugar – click here to learn how.

If you’re completely new to canning, please read:

>>Canning Jars and Other Newbie Canning Tips<<<

Applesauce is perfect for a new canner, so you can do this!

Recipe for Caramel Applesauce for Canning

This applesauce has a deep, rich flavor reminiscent of caramel, while still maintaining a bit of the bite of a fresh apple. 

For a comparison recipe created by tested standards, please visit this applesauce canning post from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Save Apple Cores

As mentioned in the recipe, you can make an apple vinegar from your apple scraps. Simple visit our article:

—>>>Make Apple Chips in the Solar Oven – the vinegar tutorial is in there! <<<—

This will be similar to apple cider vinegar, though lighter in flavor. These instructions come from our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead.

The  first part of this article details how to make apple chips, FYI. Just skip that part if you’re not interested; the apple vinegar instructions are below all that.

Leftover Apples?

If you have more apples leftover, try this recipe for Apple Pie Jam from Timber Creek Farm. Tell me how it is because I really want to try it!

Try making apple sugar with Learning and Yearning.

Still have leftover apples? Try any of these preserving apples ideas from Schneider Peeps – there’s just about every way to preserve apples outlined here.

For inspiration on how to use your applesauce once it’s made, check out these 6 Sweet & Savory Ways to Use Applesauce.

And, if you happen to have a few apples leftover, try making this amazing apple pie filling from Nitty Gritty Mama.

Applesauce Canning with Kids

Applesauce is certainly something that an older child can handle making on their own. Water bath canning is very straightforward.

The fruit preparation is simple, as along as a child has been taught proper knife skills. Please read the article for more tips on

—>>>Keeping Kids Safe in the Canning Kitchen <<<—

It’s fun to taste test together and chat around the stock pot, but be sure to let your older children do this as much as they can on their own. Be sure to go over altitude/processing time adjustments with them as you both get the canner set up.

It’s good to be in the kitchen for that part just to be sure everything is in order.

• To learn more about teaching kids to can safely, check out The National Center For Home Food Preservation’s free program for kids called Put It Up.
• Since original publication of this article in 2016, the NCHF has put a layer of security on this information. You know need to request a link to be sent to you with the curriculum. Sadly, in our day of bots and cyber attacks, this kind of security is necessary. You can still access the great info, though!

Incidentally, this caramel applesauce makes a fantastic teacher or youth leader gift. My daughter left for her youth activity at church tonight with four pints of this applesauce tucked into her bag to give as gifts to her leaders.

For more gloriously unique and tasty canning recipes, be sure to check out my friend Kathie’s book below:

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