Canned cranberry sauce is loaded with additional sweeteners, whether sugar or high fructose corn syrup. A 14 oz can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce contains a whopping 24 g of sugar per serving! To put this in perspective, a 12 oz can of Mt Dew contains 31 g sugar per serving! That is some truly ugly math!
So discard and disregard the over processed canned cranberry ‘candy’ in favor of this quick, easy homemade recipe, made with fresh ingredients and no added sugar!
Cranberries are a natural great source of vitamin C. Historically, sailors used cranberries for their vitamin C to prevent scurvy. Sailors are smart! Of course some of the vitamin C is lost during the cooking process, but ecoRDN‘s homemade cranberry sauce beats out the boring nutritionally void canned variety every day of the week! Every day.
Apples contain high amounts of pectin, so no need to add pectin. The apples themselves provide the thickness to help set this wonderful recipe naturally! And the pomegranate seeds are a wonderful, seasonal addition which help naturally sweeten this classic side dish! The seeds remain seedy, although we love their fibery crunch, but perhaps not for every palate. 💚
What you will need:
2 qt pot
2 cup cranberries
1 cup pomegranate seed
2 small apples diced
5 cloves crushed (or 1/2 tsp powdered clove)
1 tsp fresh ginger (2 tsp powdered ginger)
1 Tbsp mandarin orange zest
Place all ingredients in pot and cover with water. Bring to boil. Cranberries swell and explode during this process so be very careful and cover with lid until you reach a rolling boil. After the water is rumbling and the cranberries have popped remove lid and reduce heat to medium, the water should be at a good, strong simmer. Set timer for 40 minutes and allow to reduce, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom.
After 40 minutes remove from heat and let sit for an additional 30 minutes to cool and set. After the half hour, your sauce should have reached a lovely jam thickness. Serve immediately or store for later use. This sauce recipe is easy to double for larger batches and makes a great gift for the holidays. So get out those mason jars and put your kitchen elves to work!
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