Gee, all the supermarkets around here have plenty. When you do find crans, and they are cheap, I suggest that you freeze a lot of them whole. They hold up very well to freezing and don't lose flavor or color even after several months.

Sometimes I feel like I live under a rock, Ken! What I have found to be readily available in other areas, doesn't apply here! Right now I'm also in cookie baking mode for Christmas. I make & freeze a ridiculous amount of cookies for Christmas. Right now what I have done is taking up one shelf in the freezer. That's why I wanted to can the cranberries.

Time for a bigger freezer?? A nice big 20 cu ft one would be good. I had to buy a new one recently as my dads old one was getting too erratic and started to thaw everything. Luckily I had an alarm on it, but the sound was not loud enough for me to hear upstairs, until nearly half of its contents had been thawed. Imagine running out at 6:30 AM to buy a new freezer and get it home within a few hours.. What a nightmare!

Zabby posted a very good recipe a few years ago. It was more of a savory type relish. I looked through my recipe file and couldn't find it (strange cuz I made it and liked it), but maybe it will pop up in a search.

There was also a thread last year about candied cranberries that sounded fun. I didn't try that one, but again maybe a search would pull up the thread.

I also have a tough time finding cranberries "out of season" and my neighboring WI is one of the major producers.

Simply freezing many bags will give you some at times when you can't find any locally. Thats why we calling it preserving. Be it canned, dried, or frozen.

Suzyq, it sounds like what boo's already done is a cranapple relish like I posted.

Boo, how about Cranberry Pear Lemon jam? I made this from The Ellie Topp book last year and really liked it.

4 large pears, peeled, cored, & diced
3 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
1/2 cup water
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1. Combine pears, cranberries, water, and lemon rind. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Gradually add lemon juice and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil rapidly, uncovered, until mixture will form a gel, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

3. Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes.

Makes 5 cups.

Zabby, who also loves cranberries, and in fact likes to put them in cookies, even....

Zabby - I thought your recipe was nice because it was a bit unusual with onions & hot sauce. Not a typical cranberry or even cran-apple relish.

Good question, I was also wondering what I could do with cranberries besides freezing (which I also do).

Zabby, I would have thought the flavor of the pears would get lost with the cranberries, not true?

Ann

That sounds good Zabby! I'm going to try it. Thanks!

Boo

suzyq, good point about the relish! If anyone wants a bit of a different take on cranberry sauce, I'll post this recipe again below as it's very seasonal. I really like it because it is more savoury than sweet (has onions and some vinegar), and has the interesting zing of a hint of hot sauce (I usually put in a bit more than the recipe calls for).

Ann, I think it was actually two years ago I made that Cran-Pear-Lemon jam because I don't have any left, but IIRC it was definitely more cranberry-y than either pear-y or lemon-y, but overall it was one of those things where you don't get one overwhelming taste or even all three individually but rather a fourth taste entirely, which was one I liked. (The Autumn Fruit Jam is this way too --- you don't say "MMmm, apples, pears, plums..." you just say "mmm!")

Maybe I will make some more too....

Cranapple Relish
(from _Canadian Living_ magazine)

For each pint of relish:

2 apples
1 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup golden raisins
4 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
dash hot pepper sauce

Peel, core, and chop apples. Chop cranberries coarsely. In heavy saucepan,
stir together apples, cranberries, 3/4 cup water, sugar, onion, raisins, vinegar, cinnamon,
salt, and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer,
stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until thickened and no liquid remains. Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal. (Or simply refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

* I never bother to chop the cranberries.
* I assumed processing was 20 minutes, like for applesauce.

Zabby

Zabby,

Thank you for the recipe for the Cranapple Relish! I made 5 1/2 pints yesterday. I plan on making more. Tastes wonderful!
(I also added extra hot pepper sauce)

Lynn

Zabby,

Your cranberry pear lemon jam sounds so delish, I started salivating when I read it!! I'm going to give it a whirl! Thanks!

The cranberry recipes posted above sound really delicious. I have bought several bags of cranberries already and am going to buy more so that next week I can start trying different recipes and canning them - freezer is too full and DH won't get me another one. Had two kinds today. One was homemade with Equal and the other was Kroger's Cranberry Sensation. It was sensational! It had pineapple, celery and walnuts in it and tasted like cherries instead of cranberries. When I read the ingredients, it listed gelatin and I bet it was cherry flavored gelatin.

Hope everyone has had a great day and hope everyone has a great time putting up cranberries for the next week.

bcskye