Cranberry sauce or jelly is a very common relish during Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom and during Thanksgiving dinner in North America. If you are interested in learning how to make cranberry sauce, you will discover that the recipe varies depending on location. In North America, this sauce is usually sweetened, while in Europe, the flavor is generally sour. Wherever you are located, in order to make your sauce very taste-tempting, use either frozen or fresh cranberries from the nearby farmers’ market.

Many people love to cook cranberry sauce because of its numerous health benefits. The compounds found in cranberries are very effective in preventing Escherichia coli bacteria (or E. coli) from adhering to human cells. The E. coli bacteria, if not altered, can host numerous disorders, including gastroenteritis, kidney infections, tooth decay and urinary tract infections.

Although you can find canned cranberry sauce in the supermarket, creating your own recipe at home is far more advantageous, healthier and economical. Here is how to create mouth-watering homemade cranberry sauce.

1. Prepare the following ingredients and cooking utensils. First on the list is one bag of fresh or frozen cranberries, followed by one cup of fresh orange juice, a half cup of fresh cranberry juice, a half cup of sugar, and a half cup of rum (preferably flavored). You will also need a wooden spoon, medium-sized cooking pot and colander.

2. Wash all the cranberries. Put the cranberries into the colander and wash them thoroughly. As you wash, take away damaged or rotten cranberries as they will affect the taste of the relish if included in the recipe.

3. Cook the cranberries. Pour the cranberries into the medium-sized cooking pot. Set your stove on a medium level heat and bring the pot to boil. While cooking, gradually add the orange juice followed by the cranberry juice. Add also the flavored rum and sugar. There are moms who love to use raspberry rum instead.

4. Stir the mixture occasionally. Gradual stirring can make the mixture even. When the recipe begins to show more bubbles, adjust the heat to a lower setting to avoid overcooking. Continue cooking until you see that the cranberries are slowly bursting out.

5. Mash the berries or not. After cooking the cranberries, you have two options on how to prepare the sauce. First, if you want to keep some texture in your sauce recipe, avoid mashing the berries. Second, if you want to get rid of the pulp, put your sieve over a bowl and pour into it the sauce. Then, use a spoon in mashing the berries.

6. Serve the cranberry sauce. If you choose not to mash the berries, you can transfer it right away to your serving bowl from the cooking pot. Allow the recipe to completely cool before putting it inside the fridge.

Cranberry sauce can help in relieving irritable bowel problem and constipation. While cranberries have low fat contents, they are also enriched with antioxidants responsible for protecting the body from the damaging effects of toxins in the environment. More importantly, eating cranberry sauce can reduce the risk of contracting cancer and other heart illnesses.

Preparing a number of meals during the holiday season will be time consuming. Now that you know how to make cranberry sauce at home, this sauce is one of the dishes that you can prepare ahead of time. In fact, you can make this one two to four weeks ahead. If you have sauce left after the holidays, just spread it over crackers coated with creamy cheese for a tasty treat.