Canned Apple Pie Filling

I'm going to experiment with canned apple pie filling and take you along with me. I have written this post over the span of a few days so it already includes some results and those are written in blue.

The first recipe I tried was this:
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp of lemon juice.

Mix and boil above ingredients (except lemon juice) until thick and bubbly. Then add lemon juice.
Fill jars with sliced apples. Pour hot syrup over and leave 1/2 inch of headspace.
Process in water bath for 20 min.

I have been using the salt water method for keeping my apples from browning as I chop them but I felt for this recipe it contributed too much salt so I rinsed them before adding them to the syrup.
I had a lot of syrup ooze out after processing. I'm not sure why. Also, the apples float. I don't like that. I'm wondering if it is because the apples were not the same temperature as the syrup. One jar did not seal at all (I had issues with maybe three of them so I turned them upside down to heat up the lid again and turned them right side up after about 10 min. I'm sure that this is probably NOT recommended by the canning authorities :)

Here's how it turned out:

You can see from the jar on the left that I had a lot of filling escape. The apples did end up pretty soft but that might be because I am using some Golden Delicious apples that are not too firm to begin with. The taste, however, was very good. It really was exactly like apple pie filling that had baked inside a crust. But, because of the softness I don't think I'd want to actually bake an apple pie with it. I'm also worried, because of some other things I've read, that after baking it the flour thickener might break down and the pie could end up runny.

I found this one Sunday night on cooks.com:

4 c. apples
3/4 - 1 c. sugar
1/4 c. water

Mix and let stand overnight. Process 10 minutes in cold water bath.To make pie: Mix 1 quart of filling with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Bake in prepared crust.

I think I will try it? Maybe.  Well, maybe just one jar.
I also want to try just canning apples in apple juice.
Or maybe I will do my regular pie recipe, pack it in jars and pour boiling apple juice over.

I just found this one, too. It sounds more like just a way to can apples.

CANNED APPLE PIE FILLING
Slice and peel 6 to 8 quarts Jonathan apples (pack in jars quite tight).In a kettle put: 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 10 c. water 4 1/2 c. sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt Cook until boiling. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Pour over apples in bottles and seal. Process for 20 minutes. To Use: use 1 quart per pie. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

Here's a chart from National Center For Home Food Preservation:

Table 1. Apple Pie Filling.
	Quantities of Ingredients Needed For
	1 Quart	7 Quarts
Blanched, sliced fresh apples	3-1/2 cups	6 quarts
Granulated sugar	3/4 cup + 2 tbsp	5-1/2 cups
Clear Jel®	1/4 cup	1-1/2 cup
Cinnamon	1/2 tsp	1 tbsp
Cold Water	1/2 cup	2-1/2 cups
Apple juice	3/4 cup	5 cups
Bottled lemon juice	2 tbsp	3/4 cup
Nutmeg (optional)	1/8 tsp	1 tsp
Yellow food coloring (optional)	1 drop	7 drops

The following recipe is from the Ball site:

You will need:

12 cups sliced peeled cored apples, treated to prevent browning* and drained (about 12 medium)
Water
2-3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup ClearJel® (cooking starch used for preserving)
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2-1/2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1-1/4 cups cold water
1/2 cup lemon juice
7 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) BLANCH apple slices, working with 6 cups at a time, in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a covered bowl.
3.) COMBINE sugar, ClearJel®, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large stainless steel saucepan. Stir in apple juice and cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and cook until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice, return to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Drain apple slices and immediately fold into hot mixture. Before processing, heat, stirring, until apples are heated through.
4.) LADLE hot pie filling into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.

5.) PROCESS jars in a boiling water canner for 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed. 

I did do a couple jars with this recipe on Nov. 5th. I did omit the ClearJel and reasoned that I will just mix the apples with the amount of flour I determine before baking them in a pie. I will let you know when I taste them how it turned out.

This is excellent info I found about ClearJel at Growing a Greener World:  

The recipe below calls for a special ingredient called Clear Jel A, that can really take this pie filling to the next level. Clear Jel (not to be confused with Sure Gel) is a powdered modified food starch that is used in canning as a thickener. It can be difficult to find sometimes, but well worth the effort of tracking it down. (I order mine from KitchenKrafts). Canners use Clear Jel instead of traditional thickeners like cornstarch, tapioca or arrowroot because during the canning process, those traditional thickeners either gum up or break down. Using traditional thickeners before proccessing, will result in a runny pie at baking time. So Clear Jel is used instead.  However, if you can’t find Clear Jel A, you can still make this recipe. Just don’t use any thickener at all. Then, when you actually made the pie from the jar, add your traditional thickener at that time. You may get some lumps, but it is better than a runny pie.

For just canning apples I will try this recipe from the Pick Your Own site:

19 lbs of apples needed for 7 quarts.
Peel, core and slice to 1/4 to 1/2".
Blanch apple slices in boiling apple juice, light syrup or water for 5 min. Keep liquid.
Pack hot apples and pour liquid over to 1/2" headspace. Process for 25 min (my altitude is 1200 feet).

I tried this one yesterday as well. I only processed them for one minute as they turned sloppy soft in that amount of time and I didn't want to cook them further. The syrup I used was 1 cup of sugar to 10 cups of water. I didn't do them in apple juice because I thought it would be too sweet.

The last method I tried was to freeze some of my sliced apples in a light syrup (10 cups of water to 1 cup sugar). I have a feeling that these will turn out the best as far as being used for baking pies later. As long as my power doesn't go out and I lose them!

I will post more results as I taste them.