2600 Pounds of Apples = 1600 Pounds of Sauce

How was the sauce? PERFECTION! 

This year's crop of apples was excellent -- the mix of sweet with tart created an exceptional taste profile that needed nothing but a spec of salt to bring the flavors up a notch. We've learned how to manage the water to sauce ratio to provide just enough "flow" to get it through the heat exchanger without losing its spoonable character. The students will love it at the salad bar or embedded into baked goods. 

A big sticky hug to  Soux Saucers -- Seth, Tom, Kathy, Doug, Keith, Milly, Janice, Nicole, Tammy, Mary, Glen, Alex, Dorothy, Suzanne, and Dana.  A huge thanks to the  Gleaners-at-large  who picked literally tons of apples and got them the to Blue Heron Middle school where school cook  Bobi Beery  cheerfully hosted and made sure we didn't break anything. 

Challenges were met, problems pondered and solved and through it all we kept working, taking breaks, multi-training on equipment use... fueled by pizza & cookies (thanksAlex!). The relief crew came midday, but some made it all the way through to the 11th hour clean up.  Missing in action this year, but his crafty presence still felt, Jim Moore, who conceived and created the process, supplied "Fabio" the apple saucing machine and "Hex" the heat exchanger he built from scratch to cool down the sauce. 

This was the forth year that the Glean Team picked, sorted, washed, chipped, cooked, and then pushed the sauce through Hex to cool it off before freezing in 3 gallon tubs. The containers can then be defrosted throughout the winter. Each year the process has become more formalized and easier -- what was a study in chaos management four years ago has matured into a zen-like flow of work. 

Become a gleaner and next year you too could be on the Glean Team making sauce. Students will love your work.