Homemade Cranberry Sauce
The cranberry is an amazing berry that is entrenched in our traditions in the United States around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Cranberry beds are constructed in upland areas with a shallow water table. The topsoil is scraped off to form dykes around the bed perimeter. Clean sand is hauled in and spread to a depth of 4 to 8 in. The surface is leveled to flat to provide even drainage. The dykes make it possible to hold water and allow equipment to service the beds without driving on the vines. Irrigation equipment is installed in the bed to provide water for vine growth and for spring and autumn frost protection.
Cranberries are harvested in the fall when the fruit takes on its distinctive deep red color. To harvest cranberries large beds are flooded with 6 to 8 inches of water above the vines. A harvester is driven through the beds to remove the fruit from the vines. The harvested berries then float in the water and can be corralled into one area and then pumped out.
Cranberry sauce as we know it today was first invented by Marcus Urann. He was the founder of the Ocean Spray agricultural cooperative and first offered it to consumers in North America in 1912 in Hanson, Massachusetts. A small group of cranberry farmers joined together to formulate recipes that promoted the sale of the cranberries that they were growing. Premade canned cranberry as we know it today first appeared on the market in 1941. Purchasing and eating cranberries supports American farms as most of the world’s cranberries are grown in North America. The top producing states are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon. The USDA forecasted that the total US cranberry production in 2024 will be 8.24 million barrels. One barrel is equivalent to 100 pounds of cranberries.
In the United States, cranberry sauce is typically served during Thanksgiving while Canada and the UK typically serve it during the Christmas holidays.
While most people may prefer the gel-like tube with rings on it that comes out of a can served sliced in little circles, there are some more flavorful options. Homemade cranberry sauce takes a little longer, but it is quite easy to make, and it tastes so much better. My recipe is not over sweetened and has more of the slightly sour taste that is more of a compliment to the saltiness of turkey and stuffing. It is also a more palatable texture for people that do not like the jelly-like texture of canned cranberries.
One year at Thanksgiving I could not find any canned cranberry sauce. I do not know if it was just a bad year and there were not that many cans available or if I just had bad luck, but I did not want to have Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce. It just would not have been the same. Thanksgiving was always so important for my mom, my brother, and I. It was my mom’s favorite holiday. We all spent every Thanksgiving cooking together, enjoying each other’s company, and sharing our knowledge in the kitchen.
Since the year with no canned cranberries, I have been making homemade Cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and worked on this recipe with my brother, Henry. It took us a few tries, but we finally perfected it. My whole family looks forward to this sauce every year. It is the perfect mix of great texture while being sweet and sour which really compliments the rest of the meal. It always reminds me of spending time with my family and cooking together and it is incredibly special to me.
Recipe
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
¾ cup sugar
½ cup port wine or sweet red wine
½ cup fresh orange juice (no pulp)
Orange zest cut into matchstick strips
To Make
Add all the ingredients to pot and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat.
Tips
No mashing is required. The juices burst from the berries as they heat up.
Do not overcook the berries, having some partially whole adds great texture.
You can use any sweet type of red wine such as port or Madeira. Riesling or Moscato are a good sweet white wine choice if you prefer.
Cranberries have natural pectin and will thicken as it cools.
