This relish is a tasty topping for squash and a nice side with ham, pork, or poultry. It was inspired by Kevin West's wonderful book, Saving the Season. When I discovered that I didn't have all the ingredients needed in my own pantry to make his Chunky Cranberry Jam with Nuts and Ginger, I indulged in a bit of creating "subbing" and loved the results!
Make a batch and can some for your pantry. Any jars that don't seal should be refrigerated and used within a couple of months, however unless you have some frozen cranberries on hand you might not be able to make this recipe until next year!
Frozen cranberries might still be available in your supermarket's freezer section...
If not, your own "creative pantry" may find a way around the unavailability of cranberries by subbing one pound of red-skinned apples for the cranberries, subbing the water/apple juice for cranberry juice, and perhaps adding a few drops of red food coloring to achieve the desired color...then proceed with the rest of the recipe and rename it, Apple-Cranberry Relish!
Recipe: Whole Berry Cran-Apple Relish
1 lb fresh or frozen whole cranberries
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled and cored, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup of water or apple juice
1 TBS grated orange peel or three drops orange extract
2-inch length of cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 TBS Triple Sec or orange juice
Rinse cranberries, drain, and place in a large sauce pan. Add the one cup of water/apple juice, diced apple, orange zest, cinnamon stick, ginger, and sugar.
Bring to a boil and simmer until the berries begin to pop and the sugar is dissolved. Add the chopped nuts and bring back to a boil cooking for a couple minutes more, stirring to prevent sticking and burning. The mixture will thicken and when it's to "almost jam" consistency, add the Triple Sec or orange juice and stir in.
Using a large spoon, discard the cinnamon stick and spoon the relish into clean hot 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch headroom. Seal with a lid and band to "finger" tightness (don't crank the band down hard) and process in a water- or steam-bath canner for 10 minutes, adding one minute for each thousand feet above sea level of your location.
This is a no-pectin recipe because apples, apple skins, and cranberries are naturally rich in pectin which is very good for your digestion - remember the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"?
And, being rich in pectin means that this relish won't need much cooking down to reach it's "almost jam" consistency. If you cook it past almost jam it will continue to thicken in the jar and be, well, quite thick and not so relish-like!
*Cookery Note: I usually buy a couple of bags of fresh cranberries when they are available and freeze one of the bags in one-cup portions for use all year 'round.
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