Cranberry Sauce

About a month ago I got an email from a local garden center about cranberries.  They would be selling five-pound boxes of Wisconsin-grown cranberries, and they were accepting preorders.  Deciding that this was a fabulous idea, I ordered one box.

Then I got my cranberries.

Five pounds is a lot.  I decided to make it all into cranberry sauce.

Once upon a time, I ate cranberry sauce from a can, and it was fine.  Then, one day, I came across a recipe for cranberry sauce in a magazine, and I thought I would give it a try.  It was easy, and so very, very good.  I never looked back.  I am now a cranberry sauce snob.  Sorry.  The original recipe was from the magazine Everyday With Rachael Ray.  I have tinkered with it just a little, mostly to cut down on the refined sugar that you need to add in order for this to be edible.

Here's what you need:

(I am giving you the quantities for a normal batch of sauce, not a "hey, I just bought five pounds of cranberries, now what?" size batch.)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
• The grated zest and juice from one orange
• Enough water to bring your total liquid to one cup (with orange juice)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries

Zesty!

Wash your cranberries, and grate your orange peel.  A microplane works best, but I used my box grater since I had to zest so very many oranges.

Juicy!

Juice your naked orange(s).  Pour the orange juice into a measuring cup and add enough water to get a total volume of one cup. 

Peel and dice your ginger.  Did you know that a spoon actually works best for peeling ginger?  It's true.  If you don't want to have small chunks of ginger in your sauce, feel free to grate it instead.  Assemble your spices.

Everything goes in the pot.  I had to use my giant stock pot, you can use a medium saucepan for your normal little batch.  Turn on the heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the berries have popped and the sauce has thickened.

Since I am making such a mondo batch of sauce, I use this time to get my canner and gear all set up.  If you look closely, you will see that I turned the wrong burner on to keep the water in the canner at a simmer.  Oops.

Stir the sauce occasionally.  You really don't want to burn the sugar.  You can see some of the berries are starting to pop here. 

Saucy!

The sauce is done!  Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.  You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.  If you want to can your sauce, load hot jars, leaving a half inch head space.  Wipe the jars and seal with two-piece lids.  Place in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes (up to 1000 feet above sea level, longer if you live at higher elevations).

I now have more than enough cranberry sauce to get me through the holidays!  I hope you give this recipe a try.