Grandma Hoerner's Applesauce review and Duck Sauce recipe

Last year, I met the nice folks at Grandma Hoerner's at The Fancy Food show. I loved their products like the preserves and the dark fudge sauce. I must have made a comment about how much it was like the low sugar preserves I buy from Trader Joes. Guess what? That's their product!

Last year, I posted a recipe for Apricot Dijon Chicken which I use for both my family and in cooking classes. I love that their products are natural and mostly organic. For the preserves, they reduce the sugar rather than use a substitute sugar. As a mom, I love that the preserves are not as sugary.

We recently tried the Big Slice Applesauce and served it with gluten-free latkes. This applesauce has no added sugar; it's sweetened from fruit juice instead. This makes it just sweet enough. Both of my kids loved it. I wanted to share some other ideas for how you could use it:

• Serve with a pork or turkey roast as a side dish.
• Serve with potato pancakes, aka, latkes.
• Add to yogurt with a little cinnamon for a snack.
• Make a "duck sauce" (see recipe below) to serve with eggrolls or wontons.
• Eat it out of the jar with a spoon (ok, maybe just when it's almost finished).
• Serve warm over vanilla ice cream (skip the pie crust).

I hope you will give it a try. I don't think they sell this at Trader Joes; maybe they should. You can also order it on-line. Enjoy the recipe!

Amy's Duck Sauce

1 cup of unsweetened or low sugar applesauce
¼ teaspoon each ground garlic and ginger
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
½ teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar (use only 1 Tablespoon if applesauce is sweetened)
2-3 Tablespoons apricot or peach preserves (another great Grandma Hoerner's product!)

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse for 20-30 seconds or until pureed. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes if possible. Serve with eggrolls, wontons, or grilled chicken or shrimp.