Green Options

It’s fall, and apples are in season in many places. My friend Missy brought some really fabulous applesauce to a meeting the other morning to share with us all. It was so good, and we all found it hard to believe that the only ingredient in it was apples. What was even harder to believe was how easy it was to make.

This is an easy way to use in season, local produce and to support local farmers. In fact, you can use less than perfect apples in this sauce - ones that have been bruised a bit or are a little past their perfect crispness. Farm stands usually sell their less than perfect produce at a reduced rate. This would be a good recipe to make with the last of the season crop and freeze some to eat mid-winter.

Here’s what to do.

1. Get a bunch of sweet apples that are good for sauce from a farm stand or pick them yourself - something like Gala, Fuji, Rome apples. Don’t buy red delicious, and don’t buy ones that you would normally use for a pie. You want apples that will mush up well. If you’re unsure, ask at the farm stand which apples would be best for sauce. (Since the only ingredient in this recipe is apples, you can use as little or as many as you want.)

Farm Aid: 22 years of great music, supporting farmers, and strengthening America.

In case you’ve been in a cave for the last two decades, Farm Aid is:

The nonprofit organization, whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land, works with organizations to help family farmers thrive through programs that develop local food markets, training, youth education and food awareness initiatives.

Farm Aid promotes food from family farms, helps grow the good food movement and takes action to change the “system”. How? The most visible of the organization’s work is an annual daylong concert featuring some of the top names in music - headliners Willie Nelson, Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews.