Homemade cranberry sauce with cherries, ginger and lime

 

I recently came upon this recipe in the November 2008 issue of Cook & Tell, a delightful recipe newsletter I subscribed to for years.  It's no longer being published, alas.  But I have all of my old issues and peruse them when I can.  I especially love the December issues, but a few days before Thanksgiving I browsed through a couple of November ones -- and spotted this recipe.  There was no need to make cranberry sauce for the Thanksgiving feast, as my daughter was making the whole berry kind, and the kids prefer jellied.  So I filed this away in my memory bank in case turkey or chicken make it onto the Christmas menu with our crowd.  Now I'm sharing it here so I can't forget where I put it!

CRANBERRY-CHERRY SAUCE WITH LIME AND GINGER

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 Tblsp. crystallized ginger, chopped
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup water
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries

Place the sugar, cherries, lime juice, ginger, salt, and water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring till the sugar dissolves.  Add the cranberries and simmer till the berries burst and the sauce thickens, about 8 minutes.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving.  Makes about 2 1/2 cups.  

Doesn't that sound delectable?  And easy?

Quote of the day

Today I was looking through an issue of my favorite recipe newsletter, Cook & Tell.  In this particular issue, Karyl Bannister shared some snippets from the newsletter's first year of publication back in 1982.  I wasn't a subscriber back then, so was interested in these little quotes.  The one for December 1982 struck a chord with me, so thought I would share it with you.  Karyl wrote:

"Food, love, and remembrance are stars in the Christmas constellation.  In order of magnitude, love is star number one.  Without it, remembrance is only ritual, and food is mere sustenance."