This year's cooking experiment

[ksmith]

I received a postcard the other day from the Subaru dealer. I thought it was another plea for me to trade in Kuro, but it turned out to be a Happy Holidays card complete with a recipe for a Cranberry Pear relish. Now, I *love* pears, and store-bought cranberry relishes always disappoint me. So, I decided to take the plunge and give this a try.

4c (about 1 lb) cranberries (picked over, whatever that means),
2 cups sugar,
1 cup orange juice,
1 tbsp orange zest, and
2 Anjou or Bosc pears (slightly under ripe, peeled, and diced).

(If I had some Grand Marnier or Cointreau in the house, I'd add a splash, but that's just me)

Combine it all in a heavy saucepan, place over medium heat , and boil until
the berries pop open (10-15 minutes). Skim the foam (with a metal spoon)
and let it cool. It's supposed to keep for 2 months in the fridge.

Comments

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Oooo! I'm making this for Christmas!

It would make a great gift if stored in pretty jars, too.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Cranberry sauce cans very easily, btw. While a water bath canner is useful, for small batches a decent dutch oven would do the job.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Canning would have been a good thing here, because for reasons I won't go into, I wound up making 2x the amount. I have enough cranberry-pear relish to see me the end of January.

It's lovely stuff, ruby red and thick. I'm betting it tastes better as time goes on.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

You might see if you can freeze some. Might be useful to know. As for too much, I always have to make extra so my family can take some home.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Do things thickened with pectin freeze without lumping? I read somewhere that it's the pectin in the cranberries that acts as the thickener.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the natural pectin working with the sugar that thickens the sauce. I don't know that it would be a problem, but it might be worth seeing if it works. I wonder how easily you could reheat cranberry sauce if it did lump up too badly. Um....

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

Canning would have been a good thing here, because for reasons I won't go into, I wound up making 2x the amount

And she's cranburied in an overage...

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<i>Canning would have been a good thing here, because for reasons I won't go into, I wound up making 2x the amount </i>

And she's cranburied in an overage...

<rvvvf...>

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

At least the stuff cooked down some...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think of it.