When you are in the midst of making many dishes for Thanksgiving it’s tempting to buy cranberry sauce or jelly from a can. It’s not the healthiest option.
Canned cranberry sauce is made with refined sugar and thickened with commercial thickeners.
The big secret is that cranberry sauce can be made in about 15 minutes. And it can be made up to a week in advance because it keep beautifully in the fridge, only getting better with age.
And when you make it yourself you can fruit sweeten it and add a super healthy thickener like gelatin. Gelatin is extremely healing for the gut, skin, joints and teeth (among tons of other health benefits)! If you like your cranberry sauce to be more of a jelly, then double to gelatin to two teaspoons.
I use grass fed gelatin for the most health benefits. It’s my favorite and I buy it here.
I used a whole fuyu persimmon to sweeten my cranberry sauce but if you don’t like persimmon or don’t know what it is you can use a whole apple or pear.
And if it’s still not sweet enough for you then you can add a tablespoon of maple syrup or honey or more dates until its sweet enough for you.
If you do make it early, my only piece of advice is to triple the recipe because you’ll likely want to snack on this cranberry goodness during the week. It’s delicious eaten with plain yogurt and crumbled paleo cookies (that’s what we had for dessert last night).
If you’re a persimmon fanatic, like me, check out my recipe for persimmon bread here.
Because it’s fruit sweetened, this recipe is whole 30 compliant, so if you ever take on this month-long Paleo cleanse then you can eat this as a dessert.
If you make this recipe, tag me @paleokitchen lab on Instagram, I would love to see it!!
Have a happy AND healthy Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
1 cup of organic fresh cranberries
1 persimmon, cut into approx. 8 pieces
2 dates
Juice of half a lime
1 heaping teaspoon of gelatin.
Optional: 2 tablespoons of tart cherry juice (you can use pure cranberry juice instead)
How to
Boil the cranberries in water for 10 minutes. They are going to make popping noises as they boil. Don’t worry this is normal. Just don’t stand too close to the pot as they are popping as hot water can splash from the pot as they pop.
Also soak the dates in a separate bowl of hot water for 10 minutes to soften them(be careful not to burn yourself, best to scoop the hot water out with a ladel or boil some extra water in a kettle)
Drain the cranberries and put them in a food processor or powerful blend with the diced persimmon, dates, lime juice and cherry juice, if using.
Process the mixture till you get a smooth puree. Add a teaspoon of gelatin and process for another minute until thoroughly mixed in.
Transfer the mixture to a covered dish and leave in the fridge for a few hours for the jelly to set.
*If you would like a firmer jelly, double the amount of gelatin to 2 tablespoons
**If you don’t have or can’t find persimmons you can substitute a diced, cored apple.
- 1 cup of organic fresh cranberries
- 1 persimmon, cut into approx. 8 pieces
- 2 dates
- Juice of half a lime
- 1 heaping teaspoon of gelatin
- Optional: 2 tablespoons of tart cherry juice (you can use pure cranberry juice instead)
- Boil the cranberries in water for 10 minutes. They are going to make popping noises like popcorn. This is normal, don't be alarmed and don't get to close to the pot as hot water may splash as they pop.
- Also soak the dates in a separate bowl of hot water for 10 minutes to soften them(be careful not to burn yourself, best to scoop the hot water out with a ladel or boil some extra water in a kettle)
- Drain the cranberries and put them in a food processor or powerful blend with the diced persimmon, dates, lime juice and cherry juice, if using.
- Process the mixture till you get a smooth puree. Add a teaspoon of gelatin and process for another minute until thoroughly mixed in.
- Transfer the mixture to a covered dish and leave in the fridge for a few hours for the jelly to set.
- *If you would like a firmer jelly, double the amount of gelatin to 2 tablespoons
- **If you don't have or can't find persimmons you can substitute a diced, cored apple.
