It’s pretty much universally accepted that no Thanksgiving spread is complete without a cranberry condiment of some sort. My grandma Bunny was partial to a raw cranberry-orange relish she made with hand-cranked countertop grinder (I do wish I had her recipe, but both she and it have been gone since I was 15). My cousin Angie makes the same cranberry jello mold that her mother always used to make. My own mother has always been a secret fan of the standard canned stuff, not necessarily announcing her preference to people outside the family, but always ensuring that it appeared on any holiday table at which she ate.
In recent years, as I became enamored with the idea of making myself what I once mindlessly bought, I experimented with varieties of homemade cranberry sauce. I made whole berry compotes with fresh vanilla bean. I did an apple-cranberry sauce. I even tried that cranberry jello mold. As delicious as they all were, none were quite right.
That is, until I determined to make a very simple cranberry sauce, using just fresh berries, a splash of apple cider and sugar. Essentially, I resisted the urge to fancy it up. After cooking, a pass through a food mill and a rest in the fridge overnight, I realized I had made something nearly identical to my mom’s favorite canned sauce, only without the high fructose corn syrup.
So, if you like the classic canned jelly, but have a burning desire to make your own, this is the recipe for you. Best of all, you can put it through a hot water process and make it shelf stable, making it a do-ahead Thanksgiving project (and it’s good on more than just turkey, it was delicious on the french toast you see above). The only downside I can see is that it won’t exist its vessel whole and retain the shape of the can.
The recipe is after the jump…
Homemade Cranberry Jelly
1 pound whole cranberries, washed and picked over for any bad berries
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup apple cider
lemon juice (optional)
Combine the first three above ingredients and simmer until the berries begin to burst. Remove from the heat and taste. If it’s too sweet for you, add a bit of lemon juice to increase the tartness. If it’s too tart, you can add a bit more sugar and return to the heat in order until the sugar is integrated.
Once the flavors are adjusted and the fruit has cooled a bit run it through a food mill or press it through a sieve, to remove the skins.
Pour into clean jars (leaving 1/2 inch head space), wipe rims, apply lids (make sure to simmer your lids at approximately 180 degrees for about ten minutes prior to use) and process in a boiling water canner for fifteen minutes (starting the time when the canner returns to a boil).
This recipe makes just a bit more than a pint (I filled a pint and a four-ounce jar).
If you can’t help but mess around with recipes, try adding some cinnamon, orange zest or a bit of vanilla bean (it’s delicious, it just didn’t match the food memory I was trying to satisfy). Make it your own!
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Apartment 2024 » Blog Archive » quick, quick added these pithy words on Nov 13 09 at 1:08 am[...] a very crumbly texture), and cranberry relish like my mom always makes. I also made and canned cranberry jelly over the weekend, and am glad I did. It is really good (further evidence that homemade is ALWAYS [...]
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i made… cranberry jelly sauce heaven « Rufus & Clementine added these pithy words on Dec 16 09 at 3:08 amI do love cranberry sauce – everything from the color to the flavor to how incredibly easy it is to make. I’d just been thinking today that I’d like to can it and have it in the cupboard year-round.
1. Cara added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
12:39 am
I have my great-grandma’s cranberry-orange relish recipe (with walnuts) that she used to hand crank (and which I now use my food processor.) I bet it’s pretty similar . . . I’d be happy to send it to you if you’d like! I make it every Thanksgiving (and am the last person who does in my family!). . . let me know! I have it in Word and can e-mail it to you . . . just shoot me an e-mail!
Best,
SarahPS – Nonetheless, your recipe looks fantastic too!
2. Sarah added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
1:02 am
Love it. Definitely on my to-do list. Simple is good.
4. Jennie added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
1:51 am
Or if you’re looking for an update. There’s a great raw cranberry, orange, and ginger recipe in Susanna Foo’s second book.
5. Ted Fristrom added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
1:53 am
You know, I’ve avoided the cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving my whole life, but cranberry jelly on toast sounds delicious. I think I’m going to have to give this a shot.
6. TeacherA added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
2:58 am
Yay! I like leftover cranberry on sandwiches, too. I think I know what I’ll be up to this weekend!
7. Rcakewalk added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
9:04 am
…but how to replicate the little ridges from the tin? at family gatherings, we’re not even allowed to smash it out of the can-shaped cylinder!
8. huebscher added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
9:55 am
My grandmother made the raw cranberry orange relish with the hand crank too. Right now all I can picture are errant cranberries bouncing around the kitchen! After my relentless hounding to get this “heirloom family recipe” she finally revealed that it was the one on the back of the Ocean Spray bag. Bag of cranberries, whole orange (peel and all), cup of sugar – grind it all together and let it sit overnight. Really can’t be beat. (I do it now in the food processor with berries I buy at the local bog.)
9. Michael added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
10:45 am
Yum! I think I may have to make up a batch or two this weekend. I love cranberries!
10. Meryl added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
10:47 am
Why do you put it through the food mill? Do the skins make a funny consistency? I’ve never found this to be so when I’ve made cranberry sauce.
I like the addition of maple to cranberry sauce instead of sugar.
11. anduin added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
12:54 pm
Oh! I love that so many of you have similar memories about grandmothers grinding up their cranberry/orange relish. And Ted, that Susanna Foo recipe sounds amazing.
Huebscher, you could always clean out a tin can and use it as a mold for your own cranberry sauce. Could be a fun experiment!
Anduin, I put it through the food mill because I want it to have as smooth and even a consistency as is possible. The goal is to have it resemble the canned stuff closely. If you don’t mind the skins, feel free to skip that step.
12. Marisa added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
1:31 pm
I was all ready to offer up my family’s recipe but it appears to be the exact same as everyone else’s! Not so much of the family secret recipe I thought it was, huh? I too have those fond memories – except it’s my mom who always made the cranberry sauce (really relish but we always called it sauce). Now that I’m on the other side of the country for Thanksgiving, I find it’s the only thing I ever really miss from dinner. I often find myself making a batch in early December.
13. Vicki added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
2:46 pm
Thank you for this recipe! It sounds perfect. I will be adding this to my Thanksgiving menu. Yum!
14. Barb added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
4:42 pm
Hi! My grandma also made a similar raw cranberry relish. I tried this recipe at Simply Recipes and I found it works great–although I use a whole bag of cranberries and a slightly lower amount of sugar. I’ve tried it in the food processor and in a meat grinder and I think the meat grinder has a much better consistency.
15. Libby added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
5:26 pm
Everybody should make their own darn cranberry sauce!! That’s what I was thinking the other night when I was finished with mine. I love that you added the processing tip because you never see that in any recipes. Save it for the rest of the year, right?? Cranberries are so beautiful and I love how they jell up. I like my guys whole and chunky with orange juice and sugar. Oh, my.
16. Julia added these pithy words on
Nov 13 09 at
8:30 pm
No pectin needed? I would like to make this up (and can), jam style with chunks and skins, is that a problem?
17. Terri added these pithy words on
Nov 15 09 at
10:46 pm
Terri, cranberries have a great deal of pectin in them naturally, so there’s no need to add any extra. Additionally, you could certainly can them jam-style, with skins and chunks. I’ve had it that way and it’s delicious.
18. Marisa added these pithy words on
Nov 15 09 at
11:30 pm
Thank you Marisa! I took a break from painting walls to make Cranberry Jam. After cooking, I added the juice from one lime and a splash of vanilla. I think it is going to be perfect on the corn muffins we are having with dinner.
19. Terri added these pithy words on
Nov 16 09 at
5:49 pm
Just whipped this up this morning. It made me realize that cranberries are no longer sold in 1 lb bags – glad I bought 2 bags this weekend!
It is yummy. I’ll bringing this, along with my homemade cranberry sauce (official USAF recipe) to Thanksgiving dinner this year.
~daisy
20. daisy mae added these pithy words on
Nov 17 09 at
12:48 pm
Too cool, thank you! I just have one question:
Can I substitute honey and at what ration to sugar?
Thanks in advance,
Jessica
21. Jessica added these pithy words on
Nov 18 09 at
3:41 pm
I’m wondering if you canned it in widemouth jars, if you could get it to slide out like the cylinder-o-cranberry does? maybe if you dipped the jar in warm water like you do with a jello mold? Now I want to get some cranberries and try this
22. alison added these pithy words on
Nov 19 09 at
2:44 am
I made a double batch of this lovely jelly last night, and I can report that it will slide right out of a straight-sided jar, once cooled — handy if you’re really hankering for the effect you get with the store-bought cranberry-sauce-in-a-can. Since we’re going to eat my jelly this week and therefore I didn’t need to process this batch, I put it into old Bonne Maman jam jars, which have flat sides and make a nice jelly mold. The resulting cranberry jelly towers are so pretty and delicious!
23. RubyJane added these pithy words on
Nov 22 09 at
8:40 pm
Tried this tonight. It is awesome!! Found local cranberries at my grocery store and used those. A double batch works nicely and my daughter gave it the highest praise, “It tastes just like the cans; you should can it and sell it.”
24. Angela added these pithy words on
Nov 23 09 at
12:39 am
We had this yesterday. My mom ran a “blind tasting” – gave everyone a spoonful of this, plus a spoonful of the canned stuff. Everyone easily *knew* which was the homemade, and it was clearly the preferred cranberry jelly. (All except for my sister – but she also prefers stove top stuffing and instant mashed potatoes. . .)
I will never buyed canned again. . .
25. daisy mae added these pithy words on
Nov 27 09 at
6:43 pm
Thanks for the recipe! We finished our first batch on Thanksgiving at the inlaws. It was a hit! I’m starting another batch with the last of my local berries tonight. Oh, and if you stick it in a wide-mouthed pint jar it does slide right out and keep its cylinder shape.
27. Angela added these pithy words on
Nov 29 09 at
6:43 pm
