For Jenny...and anyone else who needs to spice up the ol' sauce

Cranberry sauce. It might be one of the great dividers during the holiday season. Some people like the homemade kind, some like canned and some could do without completely. Until a couple of years ago, I was the latter, latter type. But then, I discovered that it was actually quite tasty with some turkey. Yummy. (It's amazing to me how your taste buds change over the years...)

Aren't the little berries pretty? I love the color - so bright, so cheery. Get in my MOUTH! Wait! Stop right there, mister! You don't want to eat that uncooked cranberry. You will be making a fish face for days - those puppies are TART!

I tried my hand at making homemade cranberry sauce for the first time this Thanksgiving. It was fun! And uber yummy! Jen is usually a fan of the canned cranberry sauce, but I think this particular recipe made her think twice about the cranberry gelatin with the fashionable rings.


Here's what you need:

16 oz. fresh cranberries (rinsed and picked over - this means pick out the mushy ones)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger (you know, the stuff that looks like gnome toes in the produce section)
Finely grated zest from 1 orange

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Turn the heat on medium.


You are going to cook these babies for about 10 minutes, until the berries pop open. How do you know they have popped open? You can hear it! It's actually a very pleasant sound. *Pop* *Pop, Pop, Pop* Oooh......happy!


After you are done popping, ahem, I mean cooking the berries, remove from heat. See that pinkish, white foam that's on the top of the pot? You are going to want to skim that off with a metal spoon and discard. Why? I don't know! Just do it! (Maybe it would make the sauce cloudy or something.)


And voila! You have Ginger Cranberry Sauce! Make sure you cool the mixture to room temperature before refrigerating. And the best part? If you made more sauce than you know what to do with, it keeps for up to 3 months in the fridge.

You could pour some over cream cheese for a nice appetizer, or some brie. MMM...brie. That's a whole other story. Anyway, enjoy the sauce. I promise you will be the hit of your holiday meal!