The Strangest Apple Sauce

[Shel_B]

This past weekend we bought some Fuji apples from our usual vendor at the local farmers market. We were going to make apple sauce.

I prepared the apples in the usual way: peeled them, cut them in various sized chunks from thin slivers to about 1/2-inch. I put them in a pot, added a squeeze of lemon juice, and started cooking. After some time, when the apples usually have broken down a bit, these pieces had not. I increased the heat, added water at Toots' suggestion, continued cooking for a l-o-n-g time, but the apples never broke down, not one bit. Even the thin, thin slices remained firm (and somewhat rubbery).

What could the problem have been. In all the years we've been making apple sauce, together and separately, with a variety of pots and on several different stoves, we have never encountered this problem. Parenthetically, we used these cooked apple pieces in our hot cereal the next morning after they spent the night in the fridge. After cooking them again with the cereal, they still didn't break down - not one iota!

What could have caused this situation?

...Shel

Edited March 18, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[GlorifiedRice]

GMO?

Or Apple Callus Hairs http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325100112.htm

[Shel_B]

GMO?

Or Apple Callus Hairs http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325100112.htm

No to GMO, but the apple callus hairs seem like a very real possibility. The apples had a somewhat brownish flesh, which is, according to the articles I read, typical of the problem. The hairs also frequently contain small starch granules. I'd guess that, when heated and cooked, the starch firms up, and prevents the apple pieces from breaking down. ...Shel

Edited March 18, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[Darienne]

Talk about learning something new every day! Callus hairs in Fuji apples. Who knew?