I notice that before a lot of people foil their ribs they are putting a paste on the ribs. Is that applesauce to work as a liquid to help braise them? What's going on?!
I think what you're seeing, that looks like applesauce, is actually any combination of some, or all, of the following: brown sugar, honey or agave nectar, parkay squeeze butter, some sort of fruit juice or nectar, tiger sauce, granulated garlic, granulated onion, rub....and the list goes on and on. I've never seen anyone using applesauce but I certainly wouldn't rule it out
Flavor, texture, moisture. There's a lot of sweetness there that simply doesn't overpower the finished product.
Tiger sauce is a sweet hot sauce made popular in rib foil by Johnny Trigg.