Spiced Orange Cranberry Sauce
Try this Spiced Orange Cranberry Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Spiced Orange Cranberry Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 10.3759254546 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.11056314009 g
- Fiber 3.91223410669136 g
- Protein 0.33168942027 g
- Saturated Fat 0.009355342623 g
- Serving Size 1 1 - 6 (115g)
- Sodium 2.88597138700174 mg
- Sugar 6.46369134790864 g
- Trans Fat 0.039122341878 g
- Calories 39 calories
Step-by-step
- Zest half the orange.
- Next, segment it by cutting off the top and bottom of the fruit then cutting away the peel and pith of the fruit.
- Slice in-between the segments to remove any of the white skin in the middle of the fruit.
- Add water to a medium saucepan and bring water to a boil.
- Add cranberries, dates, ginger, and segmented oranges.
- Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, until sauce is reduced and thick.
- Stir in the orange zest and refrigerate until serving.
- Serve cold.
Stovetop space limits many holiday cooks, making single-saucepan side dishes a strategic asset. Cranberries contain high concentrations of natural pectin and acid, which means this recipe maintains its structural integrity without needing commercial thickeners or prolonged boiling. Boiling water quickly hydrates the pitted Medjool dates, allowing their natural invert sugars to dissolve and sweeten the tart fruit puree uniformly.
Scaling this preparation upward requires maintaining a strict ratio of fruit mass to liquid volume. Doubling the ingredients demands a wider saucepan rather than a deeper one to increase surface evaporation; otherwise, excess water traps steam and prevents the pectin from forming a stable gel network. Conversely, halving the recipe means reducing the simmer duration by three minutes to prevent over-concentration of the natural sugars.
Fresh fruit introduces seasonal enzymatic activity and varying moisture levels that canned alternatives lack. Frozen cranberries work as a direct 1:1 substitute for fresh berries, though their cell walls rupture during freezing, releasing internal juices faster and shortening the overall reduction time by roughly two minutes.
Stirring the reserved orange zest in at the very end preserves volatile citrus oils that heat would otherwise destroy. Chilling the finished sauce for at least two hours allows the retrogradation of starch and pectin molecules to finish, transforming a loose compote into a cohesive spread that holds its shape on the plate.
