0 Cultured Strawberry Applesauce

 It's Cultured Mondays again!  How are all your culturing goals going?  I am so happy that I made the goal in January to eat at least one cultured food a day - our family is addicted now!  I'm having so much fun coming up with new combinations for us to try.
My latest is this strawberry applesauce - it is one of my favorite cultured products to date!  I know it's a bit early for most of the country, but out here in SoCal, we are in the middle of our strawberry season.  I am so grateful to be part of an organic food coop and was able to get 84 pints of strawberries at just a dollar a pint.  We have been in strawberry heaven.  I dried most of them (future post!!), but am making a gallon and a half of this cultured strawberry sauce because we are eating it like crazy.

 So, this recipe is SUPER easy!  Because of the pesticides used on conventional apples and strawberries, I HIGHLY recommend making this with organic fruit.

*5 large apples or 6-7 smaller apples
*2 pints of strawberries
*3-6 T whey
*1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Wash your fruit thoroughly.  Cut the apples into large pieces.  Using a vitamix or blender, blend the fruit in 2-3 sessions, dividing the salt and whey into each session.  Add to three 3 cup canning jars or one 6 cup canning jar and one 3 cup canning jar.  You need to leave at least 3 inches of space in the top of the jar.  I learned this the hard way!  Leave out for 24-30 hours if it is warm.  For cooler weather, you may need to do 36-48 hours.  Once you see lots of bubbles, it has a fizzy taste, and has lost some of it's original sweetness, it should be fermented and can be placed in the fridge.

You need plenty of space in the top of your jar as I am guessing the sugars in the fruit ferment quickly.  I put all of my recipe into just one 6 cup canning jar and I walked by my pantry around hour 30 and I could HEAR it just fizzing away.  So I opened my jar and the sauce just came pouring out!  It tasted amazing, though.  It had a slight fizz to it and is mildly sweet.  We used it on pancakes this morning instead of syrup.  Delicious!

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