Summer Transparency Applesauce

We buy two bushels of summer transparency apples at Carver's Orchard in Cosby, Tennessee, usually in late June.  Last year climate change had the apples come in two weeks early.  My mother, Jean Beaman Walker,  taught me how to make this incredible applesauce, which she learned from her mother, Cora Goddard, who married Clarence Beaman.  Cora's roots are tied to the Waylands and Boyd's Creek, Sevier County, Tennessee.  Imagine how many generations have been making this applesauce.  Here is the transformation, and the work:

1/2 bushel apples

wash the apples

with knife, or scoop, cut out stem and ends

with knife, or apple corer, cut apples into pieces

note cores, with seeds, included in pot
add a pinch of salt

add a small amount of water, 1/2 cup?
add more water when needed

cook and stir, for hours
cover pot and keep on low heat, though maintain a simmer

keep cooking, stirring

nearly completely cooked

when all pieces are incorporated into a slurry,
you can proceed to the food mill

Add caption

nearly completely cooked

note how little substance is left over
Mother used a Foley Food Press (now called a food mill)
we bought the Oxo Food Mill from Target in E. Knoxville
when we couldn't find the Foley food mill at the cabin

add far more sugar than you think should be
these apples seem to have no natural sugar
we used 12 cups of sugar for 1/2 bushel of apples

this applesauce freezes well
it's great to thaw out over the next year or two