Raw Applesauce

Raw Applesauce is a quick, easy, delicious, and healthy Vitamix recipe. Kids love it, toddlers love it, mothers, dads, and grandparents love it. Almost everyone loves raw applesauce!

In addition to being delicious, there are plenty of health benefits from this raw applesauce recipe. Lemon is alkalizing. Apples are full of detoxifying pectin, and as we all know, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”! Cinnamon helps lower blood sugar levels, and dates are a natural sweetener that comes bundled with fiber which helps to slow the release of the sugar into the blood stream!

	Ingredients 2 apples 1/2 peeled lemon 1 tsp. cinnamon 5-6 pitted dates

Ingredient Notes

Apple

• Choose whatever flavor of apple you like (I like Gala for this recipe). If you like tart, consider trying granny smith!
• I use apple seeds in my smoothies, but I find that they add a bit of a bitter taste to this recipe, so for applesauce, I remove the apple seeds. This is my favorite kind of apple corer.
• You can leave the skin on!
• Apples are on the “Dirty Dozen” list, so if possible, try to buy them organic.
• Apples can easily get stuck under a blade and go for a ride around the container without getting cut up if they are cut in halves or quarters. For easiest blending, cut your apple quarters, then into eighths so they have more of a square shape than the shape of a slice.
• If you want to eat the applesauce right away, and you want it cool and not warm, place the apples in the freezer for a bit before you blend. Not long enough to freeze, just long enough to get really cold.

Lemon

• The seeds and pith of citrus contain bioflavanoids which make the Vitamin C more bioavailable, so when you can consume your citrus shortly after making the recipe, please consider leaving the healthy seeds and white pith in!
• If you can’t eat all of it right after making it, and you plan to store any of the applesauce recipe, use the juice of the lemon and do not include the seeds or white pith because citrus seeds, fiber, and white pith are not bitter if eaten right away, but turn bitter over time.
• Not only is lemon juice alkalizing, full of Vitamin C, and a great aid in detoxification, it is also used in this recipe to help keep the apples from oxidizing (turning brown).

Cinnamon

• Use as much or as little as you like. I’d start with 1 tsp to every 2 apples, then taste and add more if necessary. Some people really like the taste of lots of cinnamon in this recipe!

Dates

• Dates are used in this recipe to give the raw applesauce a cooked applesauce taste. The Vitamix can heat food, but it does not develop the flavor of cooked foods. Cooked apples are sweeter than raw apples. The Vitamix can make hot, raw applesauce, but blending until hot won’t make the applesauce taste like cooked applesauce. This is where the dates come in. They give the raw applesauce recipe a cooked applesauce taste!
• Be sure to check for pits. Medjool dates are the softer variety, but often come with pits. Most “pitted dates” are of the deglet noor variety, and these are more compact and dry than medjools. Any kind of date will work in this recipe.

Instructions

Add ingredients in the following order: lemon juice, apples, dates, cinnamon. If you have a Standard model start at Variable Speed #1, quickly move the dial to 10 (in less than 5 seconds), then flip the switch to High. If you have a Standard Programs, OR either of the Next Generation* models, start at Variable Speed #1, then move the dial quickly (in less than 5 seconds) up to Variable #10 (High in a Standard model = Variable #10 in the other models).

Blend on High using the tamper as needed (don’t try to make this without your tamper).  Once the applesauce is flowing freely through the blades, you will no longer need your tamper. Keep blending on high until the texture is what you like. If you like your applesauce a bit chunky, this won’t take long. If you like it as smooth as possible, watch the particle size and blend until it is as close to all one color (no flecks of color) as possible. The apple skins will remain visible, but if you like it very smooth, wait until the visible flecks of apple skin are as small as possible.

Blending on High like this will warm up your applesauce. Some people don’t mind it warm. If you want it cold, use lemon juice rather than 1/2 of a whole, peeled, lemon, and place it in the fridge to cool off after you make it. If you put your apples in the freezer to get them really cold, and you don’t mind your applesauce a bit on the chunky side, you can blend for less time, and it won’t be warm when you are finished.

*Note: if you use the wide bottomed container that comes with a Next Generation model, this recipe is not big enough for the applesauce to flow freely through the blades. You will have to double this recipe if you only have the wide bottomed, Vitamix wet container that comes with a Next Generation Vitamix model. If you have a Next Generation model, and you don’t want to double the recipe, make this recipe using a narrow bottomed, wet container. This is why the narrow bottomed wet container is the perfect compliment to the wide bottomed wet container that comes with a Next Generation Vitamix model. If you would like to get my container pricing, please use the “contact me” form on this page. Also, be sure to read the comments to the blog article while you are there!

Variations

• If you add some water, maple syrup, and more dates it will become runnier, and sweeter and you can run the Vitamix on High until it is a hot fruit syrup!
• If you don’t add water, but add more dates 10-12, and blend until it is hot – it becomes very much like a hot apple butter!

By Lea Ann Savage – Copyright 2015

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If you’ve tried this recipe, how did you like it? Please leave comments and/or questions about this raw applesauce recipe below…