Step behind the scenes at the first run of Five Acre Farms Local Apple Sauce, try our sauce and tell us what you think. We think it tastes better than homemade!

The spectacular apples for our first run came from Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook, New York. Cousins Bryan and Jake Samascott, along with their siblings and cousins, grow 60 varieties of apples on 100 fertile acres in the Hudson River Valley.

We believe in local processing as well as local sourcing. This run of sauce was made in small batches, following our own recipe, at Farm to Table, a food packaging facility in Kingston, New York. (In its past life, this kitchen fed hungry employees at a large IBM facility that used to operate on the site.)

After arriving at Farm to Table, the apples are transferred from large bins to shallow plastic trays and are washed (in what used to be the kitchen’s dishwasher) and weighed. The apples are placed in a large steam kettle. They’re cooked whole, with a small amount of water to prevent scorching, and stirred for nearly an hour. We never add sugar as a sweetener — because we don’t need to — and we never add water to increase yield. The result is a full-flavored sauce that balances sweet and tart and has just the right consistency.

Once cooked and soft, the apples go through the pulper to remove seeds and pulp. The remaining mixture is then transferred to a new steam kettle and cooked to 190 degrees for sterilization.

A small amount of the apple mixture is cooled and tested to ensure the proper pH level. Happily, our pH is just right, so we don’t need to add ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to this batch to adjust the level.

The consist-o-meter, which tests the sauce for consistency and viscosity, tells us that our sauce has just the right consistency.

Glass jars are filled with sauce using a filling machine, and the lids are screwed on tightly by hand. The jars are allowed to cool before labels are applied.

Try it and tell us what you think! Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM