Homemade Cranberry Jam (microwave recipe)

• Fresh Cranberries
• Gifting

As a great gourmet gift for friends and family or simply as a side dish for special holiday meals, this cranberry jam (or cranberry sauce) will play an impressive role on your festive table. This is not your grandmother’s sickly sweet cranberry sauce – in fact, there’s not much sugar in it at all. In our humble opinion, organic cranberries are naturally sweeter and more delicate and don’t need a lot of ingredients to heighten the flavour.

It’s delicious hot or cold, with yogurt and granola for breakfast, as a traditional condiment for poultry, on an antipasti plate with cheese, or… as a seasoning in your next plot of chili. (Really – you must try it!)

Steps

1. Place cranberries in microwave-safe 750-ml (1 1/2 cup) glass container or measuring cup. Add sugar and flavouring, to taste. Cover with a splash guard.

2. Microwave on high for 4 minutes, or until cranberries start to soften and mixture starts to boil. (If you prefer big pieces in your cranberry jam, stop cooking at this point.)

3. Remove splash guard. Using a fork, roughly crush cranberries. Continue cooking for 2 or 3 minutes, checking consistency every 30 seconds. When cranberries have burst and the mixture has thickened, your cranberry jam is ready .

Recommendations

For a frosted effect, rinse cranberries under running water and drain. Spread on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugar, coating well. Let dry for an hour at room temperature before placing in jars. The berries will look like they’ve fallen into a fine coating of fresh snow!

*Cranberry spice

5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon

5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground cardamom

2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground allspice

2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground ginger

2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground black pepper

1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg