Name: Jellied Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Cardamom
Total time: 5 h 50 min
Ingredients: 1⅓ cups (9⅓ ounces) sugar; 3 tablespoons grated orange zest (2 oranges); 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom; 4 cups sweetened cranberry juice; 12 ounces (3 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries; ¼ teaspoon table salt; ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Why This Recipe Works

For homemade jellied cranberry sauce with a fresh, fruity taste and an alluring semitranslucent quality, we simmered fresh cranberries with cranberry juice, a modest amount of sugar, and salt. A touch of vanilla stirred in after cooking brought everything to life. Cranberries are both rich in pectin and naturally acidic, which helped them form a gel. Cooking the mixture at a full boil for 25 minutes helped extract more of the berries’ pectin, resulting in a more stable gel and the firm, sliceable consistency that came with it.

Before You Begin

If you don’t wish to unmold the sauce, transfer the mixture to a glass serving bowl in step 3. To control evaporation, use a saucepan with a diameter no greater than 9 inches, and be sure to follow the timings in the recipe. Cranberry juice cocktail works well here; do not substitute unsweetened cranberry juice.

Instructions

Combine sugar, orange zest, and cardamom in bowl and mash with potato masher until sugar is moist and fragrant. Bring cranberry juice, cranberries, salt, and sugar mixture to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, lowering heat slightly if mixture threatens to boil over, for 10 minutes. Mash cranberries with potato masher. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is slightly thickened, 15 minutes longer. (Mixture will be very foamy, but foam will subside as mixture cooks.)

Carefully strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Stir and press solids with back of small spoon or ladle until about 1/4 cup skins, seeds, and pulp remains in strainer. You should have about 23⁄4 cups strained mixture (it’s fine if you have a little less; if you have more than 23⁄4 cups, return strained mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 23⁄4 cups). Use clean spoon to scrape mixture from bottom of strainer into liquid measuring cup. Discard solids. Add vanilla and stir until mixture is smooth.

Transfer mixture to 3-cup mold or clean 15-ounce can (put leftover mixture in small mold or bowl). Let cool completely, at least 1 hour. Cover tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days. To unmold, use your fingers to gently pull sauce away from all edges of mold to loosen. Holding plate firmly over mold, invert mold and shake sharply until sauce releases. Remove mold and serve.