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MEMORIES:
princessdiana remembers...porkchops and Applesauce,isn't that swell. I loved Applesauce with cinnamon on it for a long time.good stuff! More »
Posted on 01/07/09
PHOTOS:
If you think about it, apples are pretty much the potatoes of the fruit world. They can be baked, they can be fried and sautéed, and of course they can be mashed. Mash an apple and you are magically left with that beloved childhood staple known as applesauce, one of the better tasting foods that are actually good for you. Imagine that.
If you want to get specific, applesauce more accurately resembles an apple puree, although there are courser versions that contain larger bits of the fruit. The apples can be peeled or unpeeled, sweetened with sugar or not and in some cases, mixed with any number of spices or flavors. The most common, and perhaps the most popular of applesauce derivatives is the yummy cinnamon-tinged variety. Other fun flavors have been introduced over the years by adding other fruits, such as peaches or cherries, and giving it a little extra fruit punch, so to speak.
In North America, applesauce is popular as a side dish of its own, ready for a snack or the perfect accompaniment to a healthy lunch. It can also be used as a sauce, especially with pork products, like ham, bacon, and pork chops. Outside of North America, however, applesauce is pretty much only recognized as a sauce and enjoys a long and rich history as such. The first references for the sweet and soft goop began appearing in late 14th century Europe. Throughout the years, new recipes were concocted, though it would always remain simply a dressing of sorts. In fact, it’s only been in recent American history that applesauce has been thought of a stand-alone dish. In the 1960s, with Americans intrigued by the foods eaten by astronauts, they took notice when John Glenn brought along applesauce in squeezable tubes for his very first flight to orbit the Earth. Applesauce would appear again in space history as a side dish for the Gemini astronauts. And probably the easiest way to get a kid to eat something healthy, at least during the space race, was to tell them that they were eating the same foods as their astronaut heroes.
Today, applesauce remains a near-perfect treat for kids of all ages. High in dietary fiber and easy to chew (well, maybe not so much chew) and swallow, it’s often fed to infants. Plus, in a world filled with candy bars and ice cream, parents are thankful for any alternative that they can get kids to eat. With the many sizes and flavors available today from companies like Musselman’s and Motts, both of whom dominate the applesauce market, it remains as popular as ever.
And as they used to say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Certainly applesauce fulfills that requirement, and in such a tasty way that you can hardly believe it is good for you.
