Home made applesauce is not "cost effective" -- so saith Mr. Marius. He's right. You cant' buy apples at wholesale. And water, cooking heat and washing the pan is not free. On the other hand, it tastes better and you know what's in it!! So here goes:

• 6 - 8 Granny Smith apples
• 1-2 Macintosh, Haraldson, Cortland, Gravenstein (if you can find them) or Gala. If you want sweeter sauce, you can use red or golden delicious.
• Sugar to taste [more on that later]
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• Lemon juice. (a teaspoon to a tablespoon—depending on how many apples you are using and how tart you like the applesauce to be)

Fill a nice heavy cooking pan about half full of water. Peel the apples, one at a time. Quarter an apple, remove the core and seeds and put the apple quarters into the water (to keep them from turning brown).

Drain the water off—leaving about a half inch in the bottom of the pan. Heat on as low a heat as you can get—very very S L O W L Y. The apples will gradually break down and turn into applesauce. Stir them once in awhile and watch them so they do not burn or bubble over all onto the stove.

When the apples have cooked down properly (by which I mean "to the consistency you like"), turn the burner off. (You can always use a potato masher if the apples are "too lumpy.) Now is the time to add the sugar and the lemon juice.

Now by "sugar" I mean table sugar. Preferably cane sugar. I also mean a half a cup to a full cup.

Do not skimp on the sugar. Sugar is not a bad thing. Too many calories is the bad thing. Real actual sugar hits the brain's satiation center and tells you "I've had a treat and I'm satisfied now." Artificial sweetener does not do this. Neither does "not enough sugar." (And yes there are actual scientific studies that prove this to be true. I might even look for some links later!)