Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

Although I have had cranberry sauce before and I have eaten dried cranberries (plain and cherry flavored), I have to say that the thought of making your own cranberry sauce scared me ! Ok - I'm joking, but it was sort of a mistery.
The only kind I could find at the store was from Ocean Spray.

And here is the dissection - both vertically and horizontally for those who might be curious about this aspect.


They are one of the fruit that has some of the highest levels of antioxidants, so they re good for you !
So while I bough a bag of cranberries with the intention of eating them fresh, raw, unaltered in any way....after eating a couple, I decided that the recipe on the back of the bag needs to be tried so that the fruit does not go to waste(waiting for me to eat it fresh).
They seem to freeze really well and if you like them, buy a couple of bags and freeze to have for this upcoming winter, as they seem to simply vanish once Thanksgiving passes.
So let's get to the cooking part.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar/or splenda
12 oz fresh cranberries (1 bag)

Directions:
Place the water and sugar in a medium size saucepan and bring to a boil.


Add the washed and rinsed cranberries.




Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 9 to 12 minutes.

You will notice that once it starts to boil, it will also start to foam up, but if you do not have the heat too high, there should not be any problems.

It steamed up the camera ! Or should I say that the camera got a facial ? Hahaha.


Stir occasionally with a plastic spoon or spatula and make sure you have a bowl or a plate to rest the spoon in.


As they begin to boil, they start popping making this almost popcorn-like-sound.
And here is one fruit up front that popped.



As the cooking progresses, you will notice that the sauce will develop a nice consistency.



When the cooking is over, let cool at room temperature, then transfer to a container with a lid and refrigerate until ready to use.

You should get about 2 to 2.5 cups of cranberry sauce in the end.
I could not help myself from eating a few teaspoons, that's how good it was.
First attempt at cranberry sauce was delicious !
Another variation would be to use orange juice instead of water, either fro a bottle of juice or from a freshly squeezed fruit.
Or use pineapple if you like.