Homemade Cranberries

Cranberries are an essential part of the modern Thanksgiving meal. All too often we find it is easier to open a can and plop out a can-shaped cranberry gelatin mold at the tail end of hours worth of slaving over a hot stove. But homemade cranberry sauce does not have to be frightening. It is content to simmer on the back burner while you prepare the rest of your Thanksgiving fare.

Start with fresh cranberries. During the Thanksgiving/harvest season, one pound bags of cranberries can be found in the produce section of most supermarkets. Depending on how well your family likes cranberries (I love them!) one pound will feed approximately four people. Place the berries in a strainer and rinse under lukewarm water. Pull of any stems or leaves that may have been missed at the packaging facility and put the freshly washed cranberries into a pot (one pound of berries will cook nicely in a 1 and a half quart pot). Fill your pot between half and three-quarters full with water and bring to a rapid boil.

Allow the cranberries to boil until you can hear them begin to pop, steadily. The amount of time for this step will depend on the ripeness of the berries, anywhere from about three to seven minutes. When they start to pop, drain off approximately one quarter of the remaining water. Add sugar, starting with one cup per one pound of berries. You are making a simple syrup so start with one cup; if the consensus around your family is sweeter cranberries are better, you can always sweeten them to taste later. (Since this is a simple syrup, only granulated sugar will work. Confectioner's sugar won't and artificial sweeteners, in large portions like this, can cause problems - both in the cooking process and some people find them hard on their stomachs. So, unless you are using a sugar substitute for medical reasons [diabetics], it is best, for this purpose, to stick with regular cane sugar.)

Add the zest and juice of one orange (between one quarter to one third cup of juice) and reduce to a simmer. If you don't have a micro-plane or zester, you can substitute two teaspoons of orange extract for the zest.

Once you have reached this step, you can cover the cranberries, move them out of the way to a back burner and, as long as you keep checking the liquid levels, they can simmer like this for up to an hour. When you are ready to serve simply pour them out of the pot into a decorative bowl, garnish with an orange rind, or orange slice, and put on the table ready to serve.