Cherry Applesauce

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This easy cherry applesauce blends sweet or tart cherries and apples into a smooth, deep red sauce that's perfect for water bath canning. Make it with or without added sugar.

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Canning Time15

Total Time1 10

Course: applesauce

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple canning recipes, cherry applesauce, cherry canning recipes

Servings: servings, makes 3 to 4 pints

Equipment

Water Bath Canner
Canning Funnel
Canning Jars, Lids and Bands

Ingredients

4 lbs apples as purchased, peeled, cored, and chopped
4 cups cherries pitted, sweet or tart
1 cup water or unsweetened apple juice or cider
Sugar to taste optional

Instructions

Prepare a water bath canner, jars, and lids. Keep everything hot.
Peel, core, and slice the apples into a large, heavy-bottomed pot (or leave the peels on if you'll use a food mill). Wash, stem, and pit the cherries, then add them to the pot.
Add the water or juice, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the apples are very soft and the cherries have broken down, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Puree the mixture with a food mill or immersion blender to a smooth, even sauce with no large chunks.
Taste and add sugar if desired, then return the sauce to a full boil.
Ladle the hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, and apply lids and rings to fingertip tight.
Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes for pints and half pints, or 20 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.
Let jars rest in the canner 5 minutes, then cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking seals.

Notes

Apple Varieties: Use sweet apples that break down easily, like McIntosh, Cortland, Gala, Fuji, or Golden Delicious. A mix gives the roundest flavor. Tart apples work too, but you may want a little sugar.

Cherries: Sweet cherries like Bing make a mellow sauce that needs little or no sugar, while tart cherries like Morello or Montmorency are brighter and usually want some sweetening. Either works with no change to the canning time. Pit the cherries before cooking. Frozen pitted cherries are fine and don't need thawing.

Sweetener (Optional): Sweet apples and cherries are often sweet enough on their own, so taste before adding. Tart cherries usually want a little sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

Texture: For the smoothest sauce, run it through a food mill, which also removes the apple peels and cherry skins if you left them on. An immersion blender works too. Keep it a true, even puree with no chunks, which is what lets heat penetrate the jars safely.

Yield: As written, this recipe makes about 3 to 4 pints, depending on how juicy your fruit is and how far you cook it down. You'll start with about 4 pounds of apples as purchased, which comes to roughly 2 1/2 pounds once peeled and cored, plus about 1 1/2 pounds of pitted cherries (around 4 cups). You can safely double the batch if your pot is large enough to cook the fruit evenly without scorching. To make just a single pint, use about 4 cups of sliced apples (roughly a pound prepared) with a generous cup of pitted cherries and a splash of water, then sweeten to taste.

Jar Sizes: You can use quarter pint, half pint, pint, or quart jars. Jars smaller than a pint use the pint processing times. Freezer Option: If you'd rather not can, this freezes well. Cool it, then store in freezer-safe containers with 1/2 inch headspace for up to 1 year.

Altitude Adjustments: The altitude adjustments for canning cherry applesauce are as follows.

0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
1,001 to 3,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts
3,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts
Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts

Note the pint time holds at 20 minutes between 1,001 and 6,000 feet while the quart time keeps climbing. That is correct.

Nutrition