Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce
I used to LOVE cranberry sauce from the can. I like that it's free of lumps (yuck!) and I can scoop it up with my stuffing on a fork. This year I decided to make my own from scratch, because that's the kind of food I prefer to eat ;)
The What:
1 (12 oz) bag of fresh cranberries
1 medium orange
1 cup of sugar
About 1 1/2 cups of water (enough to fill a medium sauce pan with approx. 1 inch of water)
The How:
- Add water and juice from the orange, and 1/4 or the juiced orange to the sauce pan. Bring to a boil.
- Rinse cranberries and toss the unripe (mostly white in color) and rotten/mushed berries in the compost pile (or garbage disposal...or wherever). Add berries to the boiling pot.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes. The cranberries will start to pop, which is kind of neat to listen to. Once the berries are half popped, and the mixture is mushy, remove from heat.
- Pour the sauce into a wire strainer over a bowl. Using a spatula (that's stain resistant!) mush the sauce through the strainer to remove the solids and get a smooth sauce.
- Stir in sugar, making sure it dissolves completely. From here you can pour into your mold or serving dish of choice. I used two straight-sided jars I had hanging around.
- Refrigerate for a few hours. I went with three. The jelly should set up on it's own, as the cranberries and orange have enough pectin to combine with the sugar and make this happen. *NOTE: If yours doesn't set after being refrigerated overnight, take 2/3 of it and bring to a boil. Then take a packet of unflavored gelatin and use per package instructions (add it the the remaining COLD 1/3 of sauce, add boiling sauce, stir well, refrigerate until set).
