Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

> I started out with just using Gala apples but the flavor of the resulting
> sauce is rather disappointing.
>
> What I ended up with is mixing 50% Gala and 50% Granny Smith.
> With adjustments to the amount of water, sugar, and cinnamon I
> got what I feel is a basic passable applesauce, but a somewhat
> disappointing flavor for all the work put into it.

I'm fortunate enough to live near Gravenstein country, and the only
thing they need for sauce is a bit of rose water. No sugar, no
cinnamon, nothing. They're complex enough without gussying it up, just
that the rose water brings out some of the innate muskiness. I get just
a few pounds on occasion during the short season (early, late August to
mid-September) and my kitchen is.... thoroughly fragrant. One year I
made 16 half-pints of apple-almond butter, quite nice.

If you get a brand of bottled juice called Martinelli's, them's Gravenstein.

B/