If you are looking to reduce the amount of refined sugar in your holiday meals without sacrificing flavor, then this cranberry sauce is for you!
I had several bags of cranberries in my freezer left over from last year, enough to triple this recipe. When I pulled the cranberries out of the freezer, my intention was to make a large batch to have on hand for Thanksgiving week and preserve the rest for future use. However this cranberry sauce turned out so delicious there was no need to preserve any as it will be eaten up before it spoils! In the past I have preserved cranberry sauce using a water bath just like I would jam or jelly.
Also I love cardamom and look for any reason to use it in my recipes. It’s not a crucial ingredient so you are free to omit the cardamom if you choose. The addition of ginger may be enough “living on the edge” of culinary delights for you but if you are the adventurous type I really encourage you to try the cardamom.
I did utilize my juicer with this recipe as I have a late season apple tree that keeps our household supplied with good tasting apples well into fall, often till December. If you don’t have a juicer, no worries! You can purchase apple juice or omit the apple juice completely by using water and adding more honey to taste. Juicing the piece of ginger along with the orange and apples is very convenient but again if you don’t have a juicer you can finely chop the ginger or press it through a garlic press.
The orange I used was a small satsuma because that was what I had on hand. I just juiced more apples than if I had used a larger orange to come up with the 1/2 cup of liquid needed.
Happy holidays!
Honey Ginger Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- Sauce pan and spatula
- Juicer (if available)
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup Honey
- 1 tsp Orange zest
- ½ cup Apple juice
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp Cardamom (optional)
- 1 inch piece Fresh ginger
- 12 oz. Fresh or Frozen whole cranberries
Instructions
- Zest orange, reserve 1 tsp for recipe and remining for garnish.
- Juice the orange used for zest, along with apples and the ginger to equal 1/2 cup of juice.
- In medium sauce pan, combine, honey, juice, zest, cinnamon stick, and cardamom (if you don't have a juicer and are using premade juice, finely chop the ginger and add it along with the other ingredients). Bring to a simmer.
- Add cranberries and simmer on a low boil for about 10 min. till cranberries burst and sauce starts to thicken.
- Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick. Sauce can be served warm or chilled.