Awesome Cranberry Sauce

Have you ever wondered why we have cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving? In 1621 the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is now known as the first Thanksgiving. It wasn't until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving holiday. There are a lot of stories out there about how we began using cranberry sauce as a condiment for turkey and, unfortunately there are too many unconfirmed stories. One thing for sure is that at the "first" Thanksgiving staples such as pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, corn and mashed potatoes were not served. All of those side dishes are modern additions. Nevertheless, cranberry sauce is a very important dish we need to have during Thanksgiving. The tartness of the cranberry brings out the flavor in the turkey. And I bet you didn't know that cranberries contain a natural preservative called benzoic acid that allows the berries to stay fresh for a relatively long time.

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For the first time ever our family will not be together this year for Thanksgiving. My husband and I will be in Minnesota; my brother and his wife in Denver; my sister and her husband in Hawaii and my mom and step-dad will be on a Mexican Riviera cruise. So last night we had our Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house and I was in charge of the cranberry sauce. I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com. I only ommited the nuts (some family members are allergic) but the sauce came out spectacular. This sauce will definitely be a part of our family Thanksgiving from now on.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
• 1 orange, peeled and pureed
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and diced
• 1 pear - peeled, cored and diced
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS: In a medium saucepan, boil water and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to simmer, and stir in cranberries, pureed orange, apple, pear, dried fruit, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries burst.

Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature then store in the refrigerator. Cooked cranberries can last up to a month in a covered container in the refrigerator and if cooked with alcohol, can last for many months in the refrigerator.