5/18/06 | Mott’s Applesauce
[ Currently Eating: Plain Old Triscuits ]
“I Got The Mott’s!”
I used to hear this refrain on a daily basis in high school. Cribbed from one of their commercials, this line was a favorite of a friend who used to have little cups of Mott’s Applesauce in his brown bag lunches. Yeah, remember when people used to actually bring lunch to school? I did it all through grade school, high school, and even in college (though by that time, the actual brown bag was a reusable rucksack.)
I remember that people with the right types of desirable snacks did some pretty brisk business in the School Yard Lunch Index. But I don’t think applesauce was one of those desireables…
Anyhow, for some reason or another, I felt nostalgic for those brown bag days so I decided to pick up some applesauce. Interestingly, I was going to shoot for generic store brand but it turns out that the Mott’s name brand Applesauce was cheaper!
There ain’t much “sexy” in applesauce (unless your bedroom habits are weirder than fiction). I don’t know too many people who come home from work and go, “All RIGHT! I got that job promotion! Now, I’m going to have me a bowl of applesauce.”
Still, it was sort of pleasant to just have a bowl of the stuff. At the below price of $2.50 for 3 friggin pounds of it, I would wager it’d last for quite awhile. Unless, of course, you ARE the type of person to come home every day and eat a bowl of it.
As far as taste goes, it’s pretty much just like eating an apple that’s been peeled and pureed in a blender. The Mott’s version tastes pretty decent, sort of like drinking plain old apple juice with a ton of pulp in it. Hm… that’s got me thinking if it isn’t possible to make your own applesauce. Anybody try it?
I haven’t done this myself, but I know you can use applesauce in all sorts of other applications: dessert topping, baking addititive, and of course the ever-popular Porkchops and Applesauce made famous by an utterance in The Brady Bunch.
Price: $2.50 for 3 lb. jar
Found At: Albertson’s
Cheap Eats Score: 6/10
May 18th, 2006 at 10:55 am
My folks have an apple tree in the backyard. The apples are pretty bad for plain old eating–kind of sour and small–but my mom makes some tasty applesauce with them. It’s not hard.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
We used to make our own when I was a kid - we had eight apple trees and never sprayed or anything so all they were good for was apple sauce.
My grandmother made it and canned it every year up until I was in college. It’s a very economical way to save your own fruit, especially when you can use the less than perfect ones.
In my grandparents house, apple sauce was usually a side dish with dinner several days a week. Good stuff … I prefer the chunkier versions.
May 18th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Mmm applesauce. It seems to get overlooked unless you’re a kid or have an apple tree. I have not tried this recipe but it seems really simple as far as no mess cooking goes. I really want to try making it so if you try it I must know how it went. So far I’ve been too lazy to peel, core and cut any apples in this hot weather..
Cut up 8-10 apples, peel, core..all that…add 1/2 C water, 1 tsp, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar.
(If you use a variety of apples like gala, macintosh, golden delicous, etc. you probably wont need to add much sugar and the flavor will be better) Throw it in crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Sounds easy enough..I dare you to try it
May 18th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
My bedroom habits are weirder than fiction. Anyway, the only times I’ve had applesauce was during elementary school for lunch. It helped make sure we had all the food groups in our meal. Not many of my classmates ate the apple sauce or most fruits they offered us. I did eat the prunes. Yum.
May 19th, 2006 at 7:33 am
There’s a quick and easy way to make applesauce in small portions. I do it all the time since I live in Japan and they don’t sell applesauce here.
Peel and core one or two apples and cut the flesh into small cubes. Put in a microwave safe dish and add about 2 tbls of water. Cook in a microwave until the apples are tender (about 2-3 minutes on high does it for me but YMMV depending on the type of apples, the power of your microwave and the type of dish you cook in).
Drain the water off of the apples, place in a food processor or blender and puree. It’s delicious warm.
May 19th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Unsweetened applesauce works great in cake mixes. I did it once because I had no vegetable oil, but I always have little cups of unsweetened applesauce (I have three small children), and i had to bake a birthday cake. Worked great, so that’s all I use in cake mixes. Has to be unsweetened though.
May 20th, 2006 at 4:14 am
I live in New England and there are orchard everywhere. We made applesauce every fall when I was a kid. My mother added cinnamon so it was darker than the store brands but it always was much better. Pork chops and applesauce are still awesome together.
May 20th, 2006 at 9:15 am
velvet - lucky that you have a tree!
cybele - 8 trees! My parents did a fair amount of canning with a pressure cooker… we had apricots so there was a lot of apricot jam around. one year, we went to oregon and picked blackberries. there was jam from that for years…
skibs - 8 hours! thats a rather long time… though i guess you don’t have to watch over it.
marvo - haha, i wrote that line especially for you! Prunes are very very very underrated.
orchid - i’m leaning more toward your method versus the crockpot. i just saw this episode of “Ham on the Street” where he cooks all this crazy stuff in the microwave, including curry chicken and eggs benedict.
aaron - i haven’t had homemade applesauce, i’m a bit jealous…
May 20th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I am the kind of person to come home and eat applesauce.
It is just INCREDIBLE with red hot candies inside.
And the tropical fruit/peaches/strawberry flavors from Applesnax brand are great!
All hail the bold cup of golden goop! =-)
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:15 am
I used to hate the mushy look of apple sauce, and growing up in Jamaica, we didn’t have ‘American’ apples - we have a different type of fruit that we call an apple. Anyhooo … being the cheapskate that I am, I saw this huge thing of apple sauce, bought it, tried it, loved it. I love the unsweetened Motts the best (have to eat healthy), but the store brand ones aren’t too bad either (Walmart), although it’s a bit more sour.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Applesauce - I hate to be cliche, but there’s nothing better with fried pork chops and potato pancakes. Yum. Especially the chunky kind. I should try making my own one of these days, but if I see apples, I think of a million other things to make with them - pies, cakes, pancakes, compote, etc.
June 15th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
I love applesauce!!! The Mott’s strawberry one is pretty good!!!
October 19th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
I love the new apple chunks sold in the 4 oz cups. It’s closer to homemade applesauce and it’s great to add to the old morning cup of 1 minute oatmeal. Lots less sugar than the premix packets and better texture too. I add a little extra cinnimon and just a couple tablespoons of milk. Yum
December 13th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Natural is better. And for some reason it taste better in the little snack containers.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I am looking for a chocolate cake recipe (from scratch) that uses applesauce instead of oil. Not cake mix and the sauce does not have to be unsweetened.
February 28th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Speaking of pork chops and applesauce, that’s one Banquet meal I haven’t seen you review. IMO it’s the only tasty one I’ve tried, but i don’t know if they make it anymore.