This week I’m doing a series of Thanksgiving recipes before I announce some big news next week. Get ready!
I’m going to call this series “Thanksgiving Revisited: How to spice up your Thanksgiving dinner.”
It includes a lot of the usual food themes but with a little twist or two.
First off, is the wonderful irreplacable cranberry dish. Most people have a nice cranberry sauce. I have to admit, that cranberry sauce out of a can might be the only thing that I really truely eat out of a can and love. Well, that and chick peas.
But what I love about this cranberry dish is that you can make it now and it will be even better on Thanksgiving. It improves with age! Just like my skin.
Here is what you will need: Fresh cranberries, 1 orange, 1/2 lemon, freshly ground nutmeg, freshly ground cloves, and some raw cane sugar. (You can use regular sugar too. If you use something like agave or stevia just keep in mind that it will reduce the shelf life).
Combine the cranberries and sugar in a blender or food processor.
Add the nutmeg!
And the cloves!
Next slice up the orange into wedges.
Then cut those wedges in half.
And drop ’em in the blender with the cranberries and sugar.
Next slice half a lemon..
…and cut that into wedges too, then cut the wedges in half
.
Drop it all into a blender, peel on and everything. Though I would cut off the stem end of any orange or lemon since that black stem end will be a bit bitter.
Give it a nice blend. It will take about 60 seconds or so. You want it to be textured but completely blended.
Next you’re going to store it. I love doing it in a mason jar because it makes a nice gift if you need one in a pinch. And you can bring it to a party or Thanksgiving dinner at someone’s house.
Pour it all into the jar. This is what the consistency will look like… textured yet uniform. And a fabulous color!
Tie a fun bow on it and it is all ready to give as a gift or set on the table at Thanksgiving dinner once it sits for a few days.
Give this a try! It’s a cinch to make, doesn’t require any cooking, and you can do it way in advance so you can take one thing off of your list already.
“Cranberry Relish”
Ingredients
Instructions
14 Comments
Kevin
Made homemade cranberry-chutney one year for the the family thanksgiving dinner. Now, it is expected EVERY YEAR.
/cranberry-sauce can weeps cranberry-juice tears
Georgia
Oh good. It’s so delicious and we don’t get it any other time of year so it never gets old to me.
ChadH
Wow! That is almost exactly the way our family has been making cranberry relish for several generations! But I never thought of Nutmeg… I’ll have to try that one. We do add some walnuts (that my grandmother always sent us kids out to gather in the Missouri woods), and she INSISTED we use a hand operated grinder, with I course or medium grinding plate works best, for a little more texture ( still very uniform, but not quite so creamy).
That is a GREAT dish Georgia! Thanks!
Chelsie
Once made does this need to be kept in the refrigerator or pantry?
Georgia Pellegrini
Refrigerator!
Marjorie peaslee
Shawn peaslee raves about you and your recipes, so decided to try your cranberry relish. It is a little different than my grandmothers but love the nutmeg and clove spices in yours. we will be trying it tomorrow at thanksgiving dinner.
laura
wOULD RAW HONEY REDUCE THE SHELFLIFE?
Georgia Pellegrini
I don’t think so, honey is the only thing that never goes bad after all. Plus you will keep this in the refrigerator regardless.
SAndi
This looks great. Will be Using this recipe this year, instead of cooking my triple batch of sauce. (Mom likes leftovers for sandwiches) i use cider, oj & sage in my recipe and this looks like it will taste similar.
Kappy
How long will this cranberry relish keep (Tightly sealed) in the refrigerator ? I added cHopped pecans to the recipe.
Georgia Pellegrini
I would say 6 months or more!
Mary Peterson
I used natural cane sugar from whole foods. Will it ever get less crunchy or should i start over ?
Georgia Pellegrini
Hm… cane sugar would need to dissolve over a few days. It may… let us know if you have a result after a few days, would be good to know.