It is very easy to make cranberry cranberry sauce, and it has a very different taste and texture from the tinned sauce. Fresh cranberries are available in the produce section of most grocery stores, especially at this time of year!
Cranberry Sauce
2 cups cranberries, rinsed and picked over to remove soft berries
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
1 t grated orange rind
1/4 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed best!)
1/4 t cinnamon
t = teaspoon
Put the rinsed berries and the sugar in a saucepan over a medium low heat. Gently shake the pan every couple of minutes as the sugar begins to liquify and the berries begin to pop. After 8 minutes add the grated rind and juice. Turn the heat to low, add the cinnamon, and let the sauce gently simmer, stirring with a wooden spoon to squish the berries. Simmer for 5 minutes. Take a small taste of the sauce and adjust the sugar if necessary. The sauce is ideally a blend of the tart berries, lightly sweetened with the sugar to take off the tart edge and then the orange to give it an extra zing. Allow to cool in the pan.
Taste the sauce again when it is at room temperature. If it requires further sweetening, use a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup. If it is too thick then add more of the orange juice. Enjoy with acorn squash that has been baked and filled!
Shanthi