Home Canned Apple Pie Filling
Submitted by teachingcotton on August 18, 2003 at 10:07 pm
T
his is from an old magazine article (BH&G, I think). I have used it for several years. It even won "Best of Show" at our local county fair. It is great to come home on a winter evening, open a jar of pie filling and putting it into a pie crust....viola instant dessert with no effort! You can also use it as a base for apple crisp.

8 pounds firm, crisp apples (I use locally grown Rome)
Ascorbic Acid
5 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups Clearjel
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups water
5 cups apple juice
¾ cup lemon juice

WASH, peel and core apples. Cut into ½ inch slices, and place in a large amount of water with ascorbic acid to preserve color. Do not leave more than 20 minutes in the solution. Drain well.

Cook apple slices in a large saucepan or Dutch oven, about 1/3 at a time, in a large amount of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain; keep warm.

Stir together sugar, Clearjel, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in the water. Add apple juice. Cook and stir over medium-high heat till the mixture thickens and begins to bubble.

Drain apple slices. Add lemon juice to sugar mixture. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Immediately fold in apple slices.

Transfer quickly to hot, clean quart canning jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 25 minutes.

Makes 5 quarts