Another Thanksgiving favorite of mine is cranberry sauce. I’ve loved it since childhood. However, I have to admit that what I loved in childhood was the canned, jellied kind, which seemed almost magical. My mom would open both ends of the can and then push it out one end. There it would sit on the serving plate in the shape of the can. Even the ridges were intact! It tasted tart and exotic on my tongue. We only ate cranberry sauce once a year, on Thanksgiving. Looking back, that makes no sense. After all, it came from a can. If we enjoyed it, why didn’t we have it more often? Now I make cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. And I have it in my fridge a lot of the time. I eat it with whatever strikes my fancy; other meats, cheeses, vegetables, and rice. Just this morning, MM had some with applesauce. I know cranberries combine well with other fruits such as oranges and pears, but I still like it simple: fresh cranberries and sugar. However, I like it a lot tarter now, not nearly as sweet as the jellied cranberry sauce from a can.
Cranberry Sauce
Makes 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
4 cups cranberries, or 1 pound 1 cup sugar 1 cup water
Directions:
Pick through the cranberries to remove any that are bruised or soft. Wash in a large bowl of water. Scoop the floating cranberries out of the water. Discard berries that sink to the bottom of the bowl.
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cranberries. Bring the mixture back to a boil. Reduce the heat a bit, but continue boiling. The cranberries will swell and pop, splitting open. This is what you want. Stir the mixture occasionally as it cooks.
Continue cooking and stirring for about 10 minutes, until the majority of the cranberries have popped and you a nicely textured product of sauce and whole fruit. It will thicken as it cools.
Cranberry sauce will keep in the fridge for quite a while, but mine never lasts long. Enjoy!