Aunt Thea's Apple Pie Filling

4 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt

10 cups water

Bring water to a boil. Mix dry ingredients together, add to the boiling water. Cook until thick.

Peel, core, and slice apples. Fill bottle 1/2 full with apples. Pour in 1 cup of thick sauce. Fill the rest of the bottle with apples, leaving 1" headspace. Add 1 more cup of mixture to the bottle. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims, place lids.....

Process for 20 minutes in hot water bath, or pressure can at 5 lbs for 8 minutes.

(other notes from previous batches - 1 grocery bag full of apples and 1X recipe yield: 7 quarts of filling. Last week's batch - huge bowlful of sliced apples, 1 1/2X recipe = 13 1/2 quarts of filling - no rhyme or reason here!)