Recipe for Applesauce

Calla Norman

SERVES:

many

This recipe takes the shape of a particular conversation in the summer of 2019, when I began to make friends with one of my coworkers, HP, who ended up becoming a very close friend. Before this, our paths at work didn’t cross much, but as we stood in my kitchen chopping endless apples to make into applesauce for campers, we talked nonstop and learned so much about each other and began to forge a bond. I keep going back to this event with affection and gratitude for both the longstanding and the fleeting friendships that we make in the workplace, the banter, and the connections we make with each other over ridiculous, boring, and sometimes downright grueling circumstances. While reading and making this recipe, I encourage you to think about the short-lived friendships in your life that you nevertheless look upon fondly—what happened? Will you call them up? What about the kindred spirits you’ve found in the workplace? I also would encourage you to not make 3 coolers worth of applesauce, if you can help it—pro tip.

INGREDIENTS:

Apples. Coolers and coolers full of apples.

METHOD:

It’s the middle of July in 2019—let’s make a fuckton of applesauce. Nobody is telling us to do this, but we also have no choice. The coolers left over from this week’s summer camp will rot if we don’t do this, so let’s crack on with it.

Don’t bother to peel the apples, just core in four swift movements circumnavigating the fruit and then roughly chop until a small mountain forms. Push the mountains into pots. This is when the talking begins. We’ve worked together all summer but still are more or less strangers, even as we stand side by side chopping with my parents’ good knives. Oh, your dad’s a minister? Yeah, though I’m not super religious. Should we add cinnamon? Not to all the batches, a kid in my group this week said cinnamon was too spicy. Too…spicy? I know, right.

As the pot fills, add a quarter cup of water to the bottom so it doesn’t burn, and put it on to cook. While you continue chopping, stir every once in a while and notice the resistance of every tiny little cube get weaker and weaker, until they surrender with a poke. Break out the immersion blender, and notice how easy it is to dissipate cell walls into a liquid form. Is applesauce liquid, or is it still technically solid? You tell me, you’re the woman in STEM. This has got to be my hundredth apple, I’m getting delirious. This is fun though, next time we do this we should make kimchi!

Now, ladle the hot applesauce into gallon-sized freezer bags and lay flat on a baking tray without burning your fingers. There’s gotta be a better way to do this. I got nothing, so I’ll keep chopping. I’ll take these home and freeze—I’ve got the space. Okay, good. Are your arms starting to hurt? YES! There’s a cooler left after this one. It’s been almost three hours, where did the time go?