The Daily Morsel

The toasted spices and ginger in this cranberry sauce add a subtle, warm kick and offer a unique twist to regular cranberry sauce.  I highly recommend using the whole spices, toasting them, and then grinding them fresh.

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Active Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Serves: 6-8 sides

Ingredients

12 oz fresh cranberries

1 orange, zest and juice

1 cup sugar

Water, enough to equal 1 cup when add to the fresh squeezed orange juice

¼“ piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 cinnamon stick

4-6 whole cloves

4-6 allspice berries

6 cardamom pods, seeds removed

¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

Process

Zest the orange into a glass measuring cup and then squeeze in the juice.  Add water to the juice so it equals one cup.

Toast the cinnamon stick, 6 whole cloves, 6 allspice berries, and the seeds from 6 cardamom pods in a dry skillet over low heat.  When the spices start to smell fragrant remove them from the heat.

Grind all the toasted spices (except the cinnamon stick) in a spice mill (coffee grinder) until fine.

Add the orange juice/water mixture, 12 ounces of cranberries, ¼“ piece of fresh minced ginger, and 1 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan.  Turn the heat to medium high and bring to a boil.

Add in the ground, toasted spices and grate in ¼ teaspoon of fresh nutmeg.

Let boil for 5-10 minutes, or until the berries begin to pop and the sauce begins to thicken.  The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

Let cool completely before serving.

If making the cranberry sauce for a holiday dinner you can make it a day in advance.

Tags: cinnamon, cloves, cranberries, cranberry, ginger, orange, sauce, spices

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 8:05 am and is filed under Recipes, Salads, Sauces, Sides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.