[Sca-cooks] Cranberry sauce (was Re: Report on Thanksgiving experiments) OOP

[Daniel Myers]

On Nov 24, 2005, at 6:57 PM, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> I made two kinds of sauces with cranberries...one a chutney, which  
> turned out to be one of the best cranberry "things" I've ever  
> eaten.  The other, a tart cranberry "dip" was good, but a little  
> too tart for my taste.  We may try adding a little more Splenda  
> before using it again.

I made cranberry chutney as well - now a set tradition in my family  
as it's the 4th or 5th year running that we've had it.

I did have a small experiment this year though.  I had leftover fresh  
cranberries though, and since my step-father only likes the "real"  
cranberry sauce (which to him means the jellied kind that slurps out  
of the can and keeps the can shape) I thought I'd try to make some.

I only thought it was possible because I noticed a certain amount of  
jelling while making the chutney and figured there must be a lot of  
pectin in those little red critters.  So I took the half package of  
cranberries, washed them, cut them in half, and put them in a sauce  
pan with enough water to just cover them and about a half cup of  
sugar (a guestimate, the now pink water was too sweet to be  
drinkable, but not saturated).  I cooked the stuff over medium heat  
until the cranberries were all soft and translucent, ran it all  
through a sieve to take out the skins & seeds, put the liquid back in  
the saucepan, and kept simmering it until it was done (note: doneness  
test taken from medieval quince marmalade recipe - put a drop onto a  
clean knife and let it cool - it's done when it doesn't drip off the  
knife).  Then I poured it into a small glass bowl and put it into the  
fridge to chill.

It set very well.  Getting it out of the bowl was a trick (a metal  
mold would have worked better) but I wound up with a small, firm,  
dome-shaped, translucent cranberry jelly.  My step-father was brave  
enough to try it, and then he went back for seconds and thirds.  It  
tasted similar (not quite as sweet) as the canned stuff to me.

This leads me to a medieval-relevant question:  Are there any lists  
out there of period fruits with high pectin contents?  I know that  
quince has quite a lot of pectin, and that gooseberries are also  
supposed to be good for jellies.  Any others?  Commercial pectin is  
made from apples, yes?  Can apples be cooked to a jelly (and not be  
just thick applesauce)?  How about plums?

- Doc


-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"English wine is more fit to be sieved rather than drunk."
   - Peter of Blois, 12th c.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-