Not from a Can Cranberry Relish!

Last month Elizabeth Ann of Elizabeth Ann's Recipe Box, Allison of Cupcake Diaries and Whitney of Harvest Home and I hosted a fall link-up, today we are featuring all things Thanksgiving and next month on December 10, we will have a Christmas link-up for you to link up any food or decorations. Hope you will join us today and then next month as well!

Some things that I like that come out of a can are: chipotles, pureed pumpkin, the occasional soda pop (and yes I just did say soda pop!), mushroom soup, hm.. maybe that is about it. I don't believe in veggies in a can and especially not cranberry sauce. I believe I didn't know cranberry sauce existed in a can until about 7th or 8th when my uncle who I am surprised because he is super health conscious loved cranberry sauce in a can. Why, didn't I know about cranberry sauce in a can because my mom never bought it because we made the real stuff, with the bag of cranberries into a sauce pan with a few other ingredients and there, you go homemade cranberry relish. 

Oh and then to add insult to injury, I didn't realize until after college about putting cranberry relish on the turkey. I just thought it was a side dish to eat plain. Boy, a whole new world opened up before me once I realized that cranberry relish was meant to actually be eaten with the turkey.

I believe in homemade being the best taste-wise but also the best for your body. So clearly today, I will not be pulling out my can opener for you all but pulling out some delicious ingredients like whole cranberries, orange juice, raisins, whole cloves, etc. to make homemade cranberry relish. This recipe was/is a staple on Thanksgivings growing up and will continue for every Thanksgiving after!

Let's make the cranberry, not from a can, relish!
First, gather together your ingredients. 1 bag (12 ounces) fresh cranberries, 1 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 cup chopped apples, 1 cup raisins, 2 2 1/2" julienned stripes of orange peel, pith removed, 1 3" cinnamon stock, 8 whole cloves, 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar.

*In case you were wondering, the pith is the white layer between the rind and the fruit of the orange and to get some of the orange peel, I took a peeler and peeled some of the orange rind and removed the pith if there was some on the rind. Julienned means cutting the orange rind into thin, uniform-sized matchstick thin strips.

In a sauce pan, add the cranberries, orange juice, raisins, chopped apples, orange peel, cinnamon stick and cloves, everything but the red wine vinegar.

 Bring the ingredients to a simmer on low heat until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes.

Remove the sauce pan from the heat, add in the red wine vinegar, stir and then let the cranberry relish cool before you serve. The cranberry relish can last up to a week refrigerated.

Then serve, eat and enjoy with your Thanksgiving turkey and all the other fixings!