Homemade Applesauce BY DANA JACOBI FOR THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH

When winter colds and the flu lay us low and steal our appetite, tea with honey and chicken soup or other favorite family classics are soothing treats as well as helpful treatments. When I am under the weather, I also enjoy the comfort of homemade applesauce.

Making applesauce from scratch is so easy I do it for myself, despite being sick. Working with the colorful fruit seems as healing as eating the result. If I do not feel well enough to get out of bed, I pile the apples on the covers, along with a big work bowl for the parings, and a deep pot, over which I cut up the apples. A friend then cooks up the sauce.

Using a combination of apples produces the best result. Supermarkets today offer varieties that make great applesauce. Choose an assortment, including some that are sweet and tart, firm and soft, crisp and succulent. At minimum, combine a couple of Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths and Fujis. Include locally grown varieties, from New York State Cortlands to California Cox's Orange Pippin, not to mention farm-stand choices like Gravenstein, Greening and Russets for an even more flavorful sauce. Avoid Red Delicious, Gala and soft, watery varieties like McIntosh and Macoun.

I like really chunky, dense applesauce. To make it, I coarsely chop or thickly slice the apples, peeling only some of them. Defrosted apple juice concentrate serves as sweetening. I always include a vanilla bean, broken in pieces. It contributes the most exquisite, aromatic impression of sweetness, without adding a single calorie. (Vanilla extract will not do.) While costly, the vanilla bean pieces, removed after cooking, rinsed and dried, can be reused up to six times. Sometimes I add maple syrup. I also add lemon or orange zest, shaved off in long strips with a vegetable peeler. For a smoother result, pass the cooked sauce through a food mill, or press it through a sieve using the back of a wooden spoon.

Homemade applesauce, like soup, is better the next day, and it improves with age.

Homemade Applesauce - Makes 4 cups or 8 servings.

• 2 Golden Delicious or other sweet apples*
• 2 Granny Smith or other tart apples
• 2 Fuji apples
• 6 1/2-inch x 2-inch strips lemon or orange zest
• 1 vanilla bean, broken or cut crosswise into 3 pieces
• 1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

Quarter the Golden or other sweet apples. Cut away core from each wedge. Coarsely chop the wedges. Place chopped apples in deep, heavy saucepan.

Peel, quarter and core remaining apples. Chop coarsely and add to pot. Add zest, vanilla bean and juice concentrate.

Set pot over medium-high heat and bring contents to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to medium and cover pot. Simmer apples until sweet ones are tender but pieces hold their shape and other apples fall apart, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover and cool. Remove vanilla bean, which can be rinsed and left out to dry, then reused up to 6 times.

When serving, include a piece of zest with each serving. Store, tightly covered in refrigerator, up to 1 week.

Per serving: 79 calories, 0 g. total fat (0 g. saturated fat), 21 g. carbohydrate, less than 1 g. protein, 4 g. dietary fiber, 3 mg. sodium.

* Use Crispin, Mutsu, or other sweet apple that holds its shape after cooking. Avoid Red Delicious, Gala and exceptionally juicy, soft varieties like Macintosh. Use only sweet varieties, if preferred, including local varieties like Cortland.

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