Tangy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

In houses across America, hidden in between the mashed potatoes and stuffing, lies a spoonful or a slice of cranberry sauce. Each Thanksgiving, Americans choke down about 80 million pounds of cranberries. (Ocean Spray figures we eat about 400 million pounds every year.) Whether or not you are a fan of this tart berry, here are six fun facts to throw out at dinner table:

• Cranberries are the one of the only fruits native to North America. Blueberries and Concord grapes are the other two.
• Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin are where the bulk of American cranberries are grown.
• Cranberries are not grown in water. The water we see in cranberry “bogs” is used to flood and float the red fruit to the surface for easier harvesting.
• Canned cranberry sauce has been mass-produced since 1941. But the first recorded cranberry harvest was in 1816 in Dennis, Massachusetts.
• When dishing up cans of cranberry sauce, open the rounded-end first. There’s an air-bubble there which allows the sauce to slide out easier.
• Cranberries received their name from Dutch and German settlers who thought the fruit’s flower looked like the head and bill of a crane…”crane berry.” Native Americans called the puckery berry “sasamanesh” (Eastern Woodlands), “ibimi” (Cape Cod Pequots and South Jersey Leni-Lenape), and “atoqua” (Algonquins in Wisconsin).

Whatever you call them, I personally call this antioxidant loaded superfruit tasty! To make our Tangy Homemade Cranberry Sauce, just toss fresh washed cranberries, brown sugar, orange juice and zest, a pinch of cinnamon, and brown sugar into a saucepan. Stir and cook down until it’s reduced by half. The sauce will thicken up as it cools down.

If you prefer a sweeter sauce, swap out equal amounts of apple juice for the orange and increase the brown sugar to 3/4 cup packed. You can also use white granulated sugar too.

Enjoy as a side next to the green bean casserole, or smear on bread with your day-after leftover turkey sandwich!

Tangy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

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Tangy, slightly sweet and loaded with antioxidants and Vitamin C!  This easy to make cranberry sauce is great as a holiday supper side, or as a topping for a day-after leftover turkey sandwich.

• Author: Erin Thomas

Ingredients

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2 cups (1–8 ounce bag) fresh cranberries, washed

2/3 cups orange juice (about 2 medium oranges)*

1 tsp. orange zest

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed**

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions

In a medium sauce pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir frequently. (Be careful to avoid over bubbling and sauce popping out of the pan.) Reduce heat to medium-low and let sauce simmer until it’s reduced by about half.  Let cool and serve as a side or garnish.

Notes

For a sweeter sauce:

*Substitute equal amounts of apple juice for orange juice.

**Increase the brown sugar from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup.  You can also use white granulated sugar.