Cranberry Orange Sauce

If you've read my other posts, you know I love sauce...any sauce.  If we're eating Mexican food, three great bottles of sauce will impress me.  If it's BBQ, then you know that my favorite joints have a couple of awesome options, perhaps some sweet, heat or some combination thereof.  And then there is Thanksgiving.  Oh the sauces.  We've done Sherry Gravy. We've done maple whipped cream.  So what remains is the cranberry sauce to go with the turkey, dressing and everything else.  

Have you ever eaten a raw cranberry?  They are extremely tart and bitter.  Cranberries need a great deal of sweetness to offset the bitterness.  Cranberries have amazing flavor and have significant health benefits.  However, when you add more than two cups of sugar to a pound of cranberries to make them taste good, any health benefits probably go out the window.  If you have no aversion to sugar, by all means use sugar.  But as we age, most healthcare professionals advise that we avoid sugar, especially processed white sugar.  

There are a number of sugar alternatives including stevia, erythritol, and others.  The publication Medical News Today indicates that erythritol may be a good substitute for sugar, but that more research is needed.  Because I try to avoid sugar, I make my cranberry sauce without sugar.  This year, I made it with erythritol because it is a zero calorie, keto-friendly, sugar substitute. The packaging indicates you can use it as a 1:1 sugar substitute.  Based on my occasional use of it, I would say erythritol is slightly less sweet than sugar and to offset the bitterness of something like cranberries, you may need to use a little more.

To sum up, great cranberry sauce completes the Thanksgiving feast ensemble by tying all of the fat and salt flavors together with acid, sweetness and those familiar holiday spices:  nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.  The orange is another source of sweetness as well as a complementary flavor to the cranberries.  All of these flavors work together on your taste buds as an orchestra works in concert to produce the perfect symphonic melody.  You are the conductor. This cranberry orange sauce might be the flute, clarinet or violin ready to stand out in a memorable solo performance.  Musical metaphors aside, I think you get the picture.  

Cranberry Orange Sauce Ingredients

2 oranges for zesting
1 lb fresh cranberries
1.5 cups of water

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice with pulp

1 1/4 cups sugar (or erythritol or other sugar substitute)

2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin

1/8 teaspoon salt

Place the cranberries into a skillet over medium-high heat with the water, orange zest, O.J., sweetener, salt and gelatin.  Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Stir as the cranberries split open and soften.  Continue to stir and allow the mixture to smooth and simmer.  Once the cranberries have all disintegrated, transfer the mixture to a blender and mix until all ingredients are completely integrated.  Alternatively, use an immersion blender.  

Pour the cranberry-orange mixture into a solid bowl or gelatin mold and allow it to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator overnight.  

The following day, the cranberry sauce should be firm and ready to serve.  

Again, enjoy and have a happy holiday season!