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| Rinse, Strain, Pick Out Stems & Bad Berries |
We always had the canned cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving when I was growing up. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but one year, somebody decided to make it fresh and it caused a little revolt from everyone who wanted the canned stuff, so from that point forward there were always two cranberry sauces. Sound familiar? I remember trying to make the canned stuff look classy by slicing it on an oval plate and sprinkling some nuts around the edge. I also remember trying to make cranberry sauce that everyone would like more than the canned stuff more than once. I would read recipes online and adapt them but I never loved the end result. This past weekend, I tried my hand at it again and I swear... I finally nailed homemade cranberry sauce.
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| Local Organic Cranberries |
I read a few recipes online and didn't like any of the suggestions. I don't like citrus zest in my cranberry sauce. I don't like white sugar in anything. So, I started my own recipe and built a new cranberry sauce from the ground up. I can't believe nobody ever thought of this before, but I've never seen a cranberry sauce recipe with maple syrup and I don't understand why. Think about it. Cranberries come from New England. Maple Syrup comes from New England. They seem like a match made... well... in nature! This sauce is so simple and I love how the complex sweetness of the maple cuts the tartness of the cranberries!
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| GINGER! |
In a medium pot over medium heat, combine
1/2 c Maple Syrup (
the kind Rick Perry played with on his last trip to New Hampshire) with
1/2 c Water (more/less depending on the consistency you're after) with
1 lb of fresh cranberries (they're in season now and won't be for much longer so get them while they're fresh!). Throw in
2 whole cinnamon sticks. Add
1 tb minced Crystallized Ginger and/or 1/2 tb grated fresh ginger. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until cranberries pop. Serve warm or chilled, chunky or blended. This part depends entirely on your taste! I like mine warm and blended and love using it as a garnish on a plate. You don't have to eat turkey to love cranberry sauce. I plated my
stuffed delicata squash with blended cranberry sauce and ended up licking it right off the plate! SO GOOD!
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| Chop that GINGER! |
Yum! I love cranberry sauce. I love ginger. And, maple syrup? I'm thinking, "Wow!" This has already been bookmarked to try. :0)
ReplyDeleteI love the texture of fresh cranberry sauce, and maple syrup sounds like the perfect sweetener for it (it helps that I am obsessed with maple flavor)
ReplyDeleteRight!? Out of all the cranberry sauce recipes I've read and tried over the years, why didn't anyone think of maple syrup!?
ReplyDeleteHi! Just wanted to let you know I included this dish in my post, An Allergy Friendly Thanksgiving Menu -- linked back to you and everything :) Have a great holiday!
ReplyDeletehttp://allergyfreecookery.blogspot.com/2011/11/allergy-friendly-virtual-thanksgiving.html
I've been thinking about making cranberry sauce with ginger for Thanksgiving this year to change it up a little. Crystallized ginger would be even better!
ReplyDeleteThis recipe sounds so yum! The ginger is such a great idea too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/11/fat-tuesday-novermber-22-2011/