Simple Cranberry Relish

Making homemade cranberry relish is almost as easy as opening a can, but it tastes so much better than any store bought concoctions full of corn syrup and artificial additives. All it takes is a few simple ingredients stewed over the stove  – for less than 10 minut- and you have a fresh, sweet-and-tart side dish that’s delicious slathered over turkey and the likes. I used fresh cranberries, which are readily available at markets.

2 oranges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 cups cranberries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Rinse cranberries and discard any soft ones. Set aside.

Zest one orange using a microplane and add to a large sauce pan. Juice both oranges and add juice to the sauce pan, along with the sugar and water. Bring to boil. Add cranberries to sugar mixture and bring to boil again, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 7-9 minutes, or until about 2/3 of the cranberries burst. Stir in cinnamon and remove from heat. At this point, the cranberry mixture may look a little watery but don’t fret! Just allow the mixture to cool and then chill it in the fridge before serving. The cranberries will firm up nicely.

Fun tip: For an easy appetizer, reheat any leftover cranberry relish, pour it into a dish and served it with goat cheese slices and pieces of bread.

Tagged as: appetizer, cranberry, cranberry relish, Thanksgiving