My husband loves the canned cranberry sauce both the clear jelly and the one that contains whole berries. It was a holiday tradition for his family when he was young.
My grandmothers and parents never bought it for our holiday dinners. They usually made cranberry gelatin salad. My mom also occasionally made cranberry relish sauce. Both were different from the stuff in a can.
Since I have been making holiday meals (often with my sister), I always make the cranberry gelatin salad. Since I got married, I also serve the stuff in the can for my husband. He likes both, but I only eat the homemade.
This year, I broke with tradition at Thanksgiving and made cranberry relish sauce instead. It was much more simple than making the gelatin salad. I did not go by a specific recipe, but tried to remember what my mom had done years ago.
I went ahead and bought the canned sauce also.
I did think we may not use it as I made a fresh version that turned out to be very tasty.
Recipe: Simple Cranberry Relish
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz. bag fresh cranberries
- 1/2 c. water
- 1/2 c. orange juice
- 1 1/4 c. sugar
Instructions
- Wash/clean cranberries.
- Place in pan with water and orange juice.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add sugar.
- Boil until skins begin to split stirring constantly.
- Reduce heat to medium.
- Cook for 10 – 12 minutes more.
- Will thicken as cools.
My husband opened the canned sauce just before we sat down to eat. He never even tasted my home-made version. I never ate any of his canned…
This version is great! Next time just “forget” to buy the canned! 😉