Thanksgiving may be over, but if you’re anything like me Christmas is YOUR favorite feast and since cranberries are still in season they deserve a spotlight on your table. In my quest to get processed food out of my life, it seemed awfully silly to be touting my old cranberry sauce recipe that relies heavily on JELLO of all things. Luckily, i just happen to know “the” quince guy and got my hands on an aromatic, ripe, locally grown quince to help me make my cranberry sauce all it could be for Thanksgiving this year. Not familiar with quince? Good ole’ Thomas Jefferson loved quince but they fell out of favor over the years. A “cousin” to the pear, quince fruit is chock full of pectin making it the perfect addition to jams, pies or jellied sauces to get those condiments naturally thickened. I’ve heard of folks cooking down concentrated quince paste and putting that by to use instead of commercial pectin in their canning the following year. Try it – it really works!
REAL Cranberry Sauce
- 1 bag cranberries (about 3 cups fresh)
- 3/4 cup sugar – white and brown mixed
- 1 cup water
- 1 finely diced quince
- 1 cinnamon stick, grate some fresh directly into the pot first
- 1/4 t cloves
- Options for variety: orange zest, cardamom, diced hot peppers, allspice, fresh ginger
Yumm! What creative spices.
Love that bowl, too!
<3
Yum! I always make my cranberry sauce using whole fresh cranberries, but I’ve never thought to add quince! Or cinnamon, for that matter…but I think I love your suggestion of cardamom even better!
Sheryl @ Flowery Prose recently posted…Winter magic!
Looks amazing Miranda! I have quince in the fridge.
In my area of Baja, it is very popluar to make quince gummy candies and jams.
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