assignment apple sauce

Dear Reader –

I have an assignment for you and me. We are going to enter the mainstream food waste river, together. We are going to pick a grocery store in our neighborhood, we are going to approach the produce manager or, preferably, a produce worker, and ask for a day’s worth of bruised fruit. We’ll tell them we prefer apples and pears, that it is for an art project or whatever it is that you want to tell them, that you will pick the fruit up on such and such a day at such and such a time. We won’t leave them hanging.

We are going to salvage twenty or so pieces of fruit and make them into apple/pear sauce. I do this with bruised fruit at work where bringing home culls is standard practice, but it would be interesting to expand the reach into more hostile territory. Directly engaging workers and collecting the waste of their day’s work is not something most of us think about, but I am asking you to put aside any fear you have of approaching these folks. They are just like you and I – a stomach to fill, rent to pay and dreams of how to spend a day off.

If anyone says they can’t give you fruit for legal reasons, let them know that (at least in North Carolina) there are laws protecting grocery stores that give away food. Specifically,

Chapter 99B. Products Liability.

§ 99B-10. Immunity for donated food. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 12 of Chapter 106 of the General Statutes, or any other provision of law, any person, including but not limited to a seller, farmer, processor, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer of food, who donates an item of food for use or distribution by a nonprofit organization or nonprofit corporation shall not be liable for civil damages or criminal penalties resulting from the nature, age, condition, or packaging of the donated food, unless an injury is caused by the gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct of the donor. (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any nonprofit organization or nonprofit corporation that uses or distributes food that has been donated to it for such use or distribution shall not be liable for civil damages or criminal penalties resulting from the nature, age, condition, or packaging of the donated food, unless an injury is caused by the gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct of the organization or corporation.(1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1188, s. 1; 1989, c. 365; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 935, s. 2; 1995, c. 522, s. 1.)

Arguably we are nonprofit organizations unto ourselves. If you have success or failure accessing the waste stream in this way, please let me know by posting a comment. Once you have the fruit, here is the quickest way to make some sauce.

Here is the type of fruit that I bring home: bruised, cut, nicked and extremely overripe –

1 – Wash, core and peel the fruit. I usually only peel the worst looking fruit in order to cut out the bruises and such as well as any overripe skins. For apples, get yourself a $4 apple corer. You will go through the apples really quickly especially if you don’t have much trimming to do.

2 – Put all the fruit in a large stockpot. Add any sweeteners or spices that you like. I added honey and some cinnamon from The Stash. Also, add a little bit of water so that the bottom pieces are not scorched as you bring the temperature up.

3 – Heat the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.

4 – Stir the mixture often. Use a potato masher to crush the sauce. You could also use a blender to get more of a grocery store sauce consistency, but I prefer having lots of fruit chunks in my sauce.

5 – When the sauce is the sweetness and consistency that you want, you can simply fill containers and stick them in the refrigerator or you can go through the process of canning the sauce for storage. I eat it so fast that it isn’t worth my time to can it.

6 – Enjoy the sauce on waffles, ice cream, sourdough pancakes, whatever!