Ingredients

1/2 cup lemon juice
3 cups cold water
10 pounds or so of fresh, firm apples, whichever variety you prefer.  We used the kind-of granny smith’s off of our neighbor’s apple tree, which just ripened this week.
4 cups of sugar (you probably won’t use all of it)
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Put the lemon juice and water into an 8 quart kettle.  Peel, core, and slice the apples, and put them into the kettle.  Make sure they get a coating of the water-lemon mixture.  This will prevent browning.  Once the kettle is just about full of apples, put the kettle onto the stove.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes while stirring regularly, or until the apples start to fall apart.  Remove from heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes.  Using a potato masher or similar instrument, mash the apple mixture to your desired level of smooth versus chunky.  Stir in 2 cups of the sugar, then taste.  It will probably be quite tart, depending on the variety of apple you used.  Sweet apples will require less sugar than tart apples.  Add the rest of the sugar in 1/2 cup increments, tasting after each addition, until the apple sauce is at your preferred level of sweetness.  Season to taste with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Put the kettle back onto low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

This recipe made 8 pint jars and 2 quart jars of apple sauce, which were canned in a water bath.  Total time was approximately 2 hours, including the time it took prepare the jars for canning and can the applesauce.