This Orange-Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce is so easy and delicious you'll be eating it well past Thanksgiving! Homemade cranberry sauce has got to be the easiest Thanksgiving side to make. It also beats the canned version hands down!
Add to it some seasonal pomegranate, orange zest and juice and you'll have your guests thinking you spent hours over a hot stove!
Any leftovers, if there are any, taste great with some brie or on a sandwich! We love it so much in our house that I always make extra and freeze it !
The History
Rich in antioxidants and touted as a preventative treatment for Urinary Tract Infections the cranberry plant is a low lying Vine. It reaches peak harvest from mid September through mid November.
Despite being one of the few plants that is native to the United States of America, it wasn't until the 18th Century that it became a holiday staple.
Although there were plants aplenty, hand picking the vibrant red berries was very labor intensive. In addition to this, the fruit was not truly palatable on it's own and sugar was not available until much later.
By 1795 sugar refining was a big Industry in Louisiana and in 1796 we have the first written record of a cranberry sauce recipe in a cookbook called "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons.
By the 1800's "wet harvesting" of the cranberries evolved, where Cranberry Bogs were flooded, making the berries float and allowing the farmers to wade in and easily collect them by bucketfuls.
As Louisiana expanded it's hold on sugarcane production, supplying a quarter of the world supply by the 1840's, the abundance of sugar and cranberries led to a whole new industry!
In the early 1900s Marcus L. Urann, a lawyer, purchased a Cranberry bog and began production of canned jelly under the brand name "Ocean Spray."
Today, come November, we start seeing these cans lined up by the hundreds on supermarket shelves, the first sign that Thanksgiving is near.
My Story
In all honesty, the first time I tried a slice of the canned variety I wasn't a huge fan and for years I'd pass on the cranberry jelly. It wasn't until my friend Catherine introduced me to the homemade variety that I was hooked!
It was delicious and so easy to make! I've been smitten ever since and as soon as I see the first fresh cranberries in my local store I prepare a big batch of the following sauce and freeze it for future use!
Over the years the recipe has evolved and transformed to include the orange juice, zest and pomegranate seeds.
There's so much to cook for Thanksgiving that I start prepping way ahead of time, leaving only a few select items for the week of and/or the day of the great big feast!
This also works well if you're planning on traveling. Last year it was a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains! This year we'll be in Birmingham, Alabama. Everything will be prepped, labeled and frozen.
It all goes in the ice chest on the drive over and in the fridge when we get there. An hour or two in the oven on the day of Thanksgiving and we're ready to eat!
The cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things to make ahead of time.
The Orange-Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce Recipe
The basic cranberry recipe is as easy as tossing some cranberries, water and sugar in a pot and cooking it till you have your sauce. Of course, I love experimenting with new ingredients and my recipe has evolved over the years to this current version I'm presenting to you today.
On Thanksgiving we eat this with easy-no-fuss-thanksgiving-turkey , mashed-potatoes, green-beans and the many other sides on the table. But for the remainder of winter we eat it with grilled cheese sandwiches, as a topping on baked brie and at times with homemade roasted chicken.
The ingredients in this cranberry sauce are simple and fresh!
It takes only a little time for the berries to start popping.
As this happens, the pectin is released and the sauce starts to thicken.
As the sauce thickens, it starts to turn a little glossy. At this point it's time to add the pomegranate seeds.
A few minutes later, the sauce is ready. It's important to remember that as it cools, the sauce gets thicker. So it's best to stop the cooking before it gets too thick.
Storing Your Cranberry Sauce
Once the sauce is ready it can be stored in the fridge for 10-14 days or the freezer for upto 2 months.
Don’t forget to rate, comment or tag on social media if you try this recipe!
Orange-Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups cranberries
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup apple cider
- 1 cups pomegranate seeds
- ½ tsp allspice
- 2 cuties (juiced)
- 1 ½ tsp cutie zest
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Zest and juice the the cuties
- Deseed the pomegranate
- Mix the cranberries, apple cider, cutie juice, water, sugar, 1 teaspoon zest, allspice and salt in a pot and cook till you reach a boil.
- Once you see a foam on the surface reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Simmer till the the berries start popping {about 5-10 minutes}
- Stir and add all but 2 tablespoons of the pomegranate seeds and cook another 5-10 minutes till the mixture starts to turn glossy.
- If the mixture coats your spoon, your cranberry sauce is ready.
- Once the sauce cools, garnish with the 2 tablespoons of the pomegranate seeds and the ½ teaspoon of the zest and serve.
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