Canning Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Pinterest sucked me in again with an endless feed of canning recipes that I had never tried.  Since it is that time of year for Thanksgiving dinner, I was enticed by recipes I found for homemade cranberry sauce.  It is one of my Mom's favorite holiday dishes.  But I have to confess she always refrigerated a can and sliced it up to serve.

Canning cranberry sauce would give me that same convenience but with a delicious homemade flavor!  I wanted a recipe that I could use my Instant Pot to quickly cook my sauce.  Next, I wanted a recipe that I could use the Ball Jam and Jelly Maker to hands free complete the jelling process.  The results were delicious.  

Cranberry Sauce

32oz fresh cranberries (2 lb. bag)

½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice 

1/4 cup water

1/2 C granny smith apple, peeled and diced 

Small pat of butter

3½ cups sugar

Spice Pouch

1 large piece of orange rind (pith removed)

6 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick 

Cheese cloth and string to tie pouch

Remove the cranberry stems. Rinse cranberries under cold running water. Discard the soft, discolored and wrinkly ones.  Prepare a spice pouch with orange peel (remove the pith), cloves and cinnamon stick.  Tie with string.  The spice pouch will let the spices flavor your cranberries but allow you to easily remove them. 

Combine cranberries,  orange juice, water, diced apple, butter and spice pouch into the Instant Pot.   Close lid and pressure cook on Manual at High Pressure for 1 minute followed by 7 minutes of Natural Release. Manual release after 7 minutes and remove lid. 

When the cranberries have cooled slightly, remove the spice pouch and use a hand blender to puree cranberries and apples. When they are the desired consistency stir in sugar.  You can puree the cranberries smooth or leave them a little chunky with fruit. 

Pour the cranberries and sugar into the Ball Jam and Jelly maker with the Stirrer. 

Press  jelly button – the cook time will automatically default to 25 minutes. Press enter. After 4 minutes the appliance will sound 4 short beeps indicating that it is time to add the sugar.  Since the sugar was added at the beginning of the recipe, ignore these beeps.  

The Ball Jam and Jelly Maker will continue to automatically stir your cranberry sauce while it cooks. Stay within earshot of the Jam & Jelly Maker, the appliance will beep again at the end of the process signaling cooking is complete. Press cancel and unplug the appliance.

Remove Stirrer using a pot holder. 

At this point you could serve; or refrigerate your cranberry sauce; or can. 

To can spoon the hot cranberry sauce into Ball Wide-Mouth Pint Jars and using the water bath method, process jars in boiling water for 15 minutes.

The cranberry sauce will be thick, dark burgundy red, and glossy. Because these have been water bathed that are shelf staple for a year.  A few days before serving remember to refrigerate your jar.   To serve you can use a table knife and slide around the edge and it will slide out.  At this point you could slice the cranberry sauce OR use a spoon to serve your sauce fluffy in bowl! 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23