Floop. Have you ever heard the sound of jellied cranberry sauce hitting the plate as it slides out of the can? The log of food product then sits patiently on the plate waiting to be sliced. Blech!
I believe that cranberry sauce should be served with a spoon. That is why I am giving you my best three reasons to make cranberry sauce yourself.
1. Taste!
The absolute number one reason to make your own cranberry sauce is for the taste. It is not fair to compare the flavor of home made whole berry cranberry sauce to the stuff that comes in a can because the two are in different categories. Check out this write up (includes a recipe) if you don’t believe me.
2. Easy as Boiling Water!
If you have read this far, I’ll go ahead and assume you know how to boil a cup of water. While the water is heating up, add a cup of sugar. I used brown sugar for the cranberry sauce pictured in this article. Go ahead and rinse the bag of whole cranberries while waiting for the water to boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the bag of cranberries. Simmer until the berries pop open. The sauce is now done.
This basic recipe can be found on the back of the bag of whole cranberries. You can also use a fancier recipe. You can experiment with different sweeteners such as honey and additions such as a shot of amaretto.
3. Avoid HFCS
On a recent trip to a popular grocery store, I stopped to peruse the canned cranberry sauce on offer. The cans of name brand and store brand sauce looked innocent enough. But an inspection of the ingredients revealed the presence of high fructose corn syrup. It is best to avoid HFCS if you care about your liver (source). The ill effects on your liver aside, you can be sure that HCFS is made from GMO corn. I try to avoid GMO crops because, among other reasons, they are chock full of herbicides.
4. Leftovers
Consider the fourth reason a bonus, just like left overs themselves. Left overs are like money in the bank because they can save you from going out to eat.
Left over cranberry sauce is great for putting on a turkey sandwich along with some baby greens.
Conclusion
I hope that you will give home made cranberry sauce a try. You can even make it a day or two before a big meal, such as Thanksgiving dinner, and store it in the fridge for a couple of days.
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Jim says
November 30, 2012 at 9:13 amI made homemade cranberry sauce this year for the first time and will never buy it again. The taste is just so much better, and it doesn’t have all those crazy preservatives in it. Found a great but simple recipe in Cook’s Country magazine that I’ll use from now on..thanks for the tip Rand…Jim
RDG says
December 1, 2012 at 3:52 pmSweet!
I was surprised out how quick and easy home made cranberry sauce is to make.