cranberry

There are a lot of recipes out there for a festive cranberry sauce and I have to confess that previously I have made mine up on Christmas morning as I'm making stock from the turkey giblets and preparing vegetables.

For this year I wanted something a little bit different, but not too much. And something that will keep long after the turkey is finished, with extra to give away as gifts. Who else to turn to than the Americans, I reckon, and it was on Pinterest that I came across this lovely book. I only typed in 'canning' to get some pretty ideas and up it popped, time and time again. Then two or three days later, courtesy of Amazon, the book was mine!

There are a couple of good recipes for cranberry sauce but on Sunday morning, whilst the children sat at the kitchen table doing their homework, this was the one for which the ingredients were already waiting in the cupboard. Actually, not quite everything so, as per usual, I adapted it just a little.

Spiced Cranberries

4 x 300g packets cranberries, rinsed and destalked

1.1kg sugar

300ml freshly squeezed orange juice (approx 5)

300 ml water

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Put a small plate into the freezer. Sterilise jars.

Put all ingredients into a preserving pan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil over a high heat and then lower to a simmer and stir occasionally, until setting point is reached (a small dab of the syrup wrinkles on the plate when cooled), about 15-20 minutes.

Ladle into hot, sterilised jars and seal immediately.

makes 5 x 1pt jars

Ours are as yet unlabelled, call it a work in progress. But there are some really fun packaging ideas to download on Pinterest. And the cranberries are delicious, by the way!

Have you started making preparations yet?

PS - Happy Thanksgiving to those of you across the Pond!