Cranberry Conserve

Back in the 80s I sold some baked goods, snacks and such to people we knew. Not a big business but it did pay for some nice pans and baking things. I enjoyed doing it. I stopped when my "real" job expanded and I was working longer hours. One of my popular items for sale was cranberry conserve. I did not can it but freshly made, it would keep in the refrigerator for several weeks...if it wasn't eaten sooner. I also canned for us using the fresh produce we picked at the local farms. (sure miss Jersey's produce!)
This year I'm back into canning for just us. I have several canning books and read them to get ideas. I came across a cranberry conserve recipe in the Ball canning book that is MY recipe! Exact same ingredients but it also included directions for canning. So, this afternoon I made the conserve and canned it. While the recipe said it would make about four 8 oz. jars, I ended up with a bit more. The recipe and pictures are below.

1 orange cut and placed in food processor. The orange is unpeeled - if there are seeds, try to remove them all (this one had none). Chop well. Place chopped orange and 2 cups water in a deep pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat, partially covering, and boil gently until peel is tender, about 5 minutes. (now the peel is HOT so I sure didn't taste it...just timed it for 5 minutes then continued)

 Add 4 cups of cranberries that have been well rinsed, 1/2 cup raisins and 3 cups sugar to pot with orange. Stir this well to dissolved sugar. Then raise heat to get a hard boil and stir frequently until the mixture thickens. The cranberries pop and the mixture will foam and expand and thus I use a spaghetti pot that is rather high so that I don't get splattered while I stir. After about 9 minutes add 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Now you can use any kind of nut - I used chopped black walnut.

The sugar, raisins and nuts

The cranberries in the pot.

 After another 5 minutes or so (stir constantly) the mixture will really get thick. It looked like jelly. Remove the pot from the stove and if there is foam on the top of the mixture, skim it off with a spoon and discard.

At this point you can let it cool or can it. If you choose to can it, ladle the hot conserve into canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles and wipe rim. Center lid on jar and screw band down until resistance is met..then a bit more.

Place jars in canner that holds boiling water (low boil) making sure the jars are covered with water.

Bring water to a faster boil and process for 15 minutes adjusted for your altitude. (I processed for 20 minutes as we are above 1,000 ft over sea level) At end of the time turn off pot and let jars sit for 5 minutes, then remove from the water, cool overnight and then store.

This green thing is a jar holder from Ball that I had seen on line and found in WalMart. I use it for small batches as it fits into a stock pot. I had just lifted it out of the pot and let it rest here for a few minutes, then move it back out of the way to cool.

And here are the three sealed jars. They will sit here overnight and tomorrow I'll check the seal and remove the bands carefully and store. I have 2 more jars that I did not can and I will EAT them starting tomorrow. I haven't made this for several years and I'm really going to enjoy eating it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!