Cranberry Sauce

The host in a Turkey coma means it was a successful Thanksgiving dinner.

I enjoy fresh fruit these days. In the Pacific Northwest we have some of the best, most natural ingredients available. And for Thanksgiving, that means cranberry sauce that is thick, with real berries, and not shaped like a can

But I like the stuff shaped like the can. The solid gelatinous goop screams Holiday. How do I balance these flavors of fresh fruit with my desire for the log of fruit?

I made my own.

It's easy. I got my recipe from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.

You will need:

• 4.25 cups (about 1 pound) of fresh cranberries
• 1.75 cups of water
• 2.00 cups of sugar
• Cinnamon Stick
• Several cloves

Wash and rinse the cranberries.

Then boil them with the water until the skin bursts and the mixture is bubbling.

Run the mixture through a food mill (or food processor).

Put the resulting mixture back on the stove and add the sugar.

Add the cloves and cinnamon stick in an herb bag (remove it before canning).

Boil it until it almost gels (take a tea-spoon, scoop some out and let it drip on a plate away from the stove -- if it slides off in big gloopy drips, it's done).

Finally, pour the mixture into half pint or pint canning jars (straight sided or freezer jars), and process them in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes at a rolling boil.

Then let them set for 12 hours and you have fresh, canned cranberry sauce. When you are ready for some tasty sauce, simply scoop some out of the jar. Or just turn the jar upside down on the plate and the log will ploop out.

This recipe will make 4 half pint jars:

Or 2 one pint jars:

Or 3 half pint jars and half of a one pint jar:

Well preserved sauce (except the half jar) should keep for up to 12 months so you can relive the joys or horrors of Thanksgiving in the middle of May. And, while it's great with a spoon, I'm told it should also be great with butter and toast.

Open and serve up a cylinder of cranberry sauce, and now the Holidays can begin.