Trail Cranberry Sauce
Dried cranberries, sugar, and orange zest rehydrated into a thick sauce beside the camp stove.
- calories
- 220
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 180 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried cranberries | 1 1/2 cups | sweetened; they rehydrate faster than whole fresh berries |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 3 tbsp | skip if your cranberries are already heavily sweetened |
| Apple juice powder or apple cider drink mix | 2 tbsp | replaces the juice the canning version uses |
| Dried orange peel | 1 tsp | zest of one orange, dried at home |
| Water | 180 ml | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Put the cranberries, sugar, juice powder, orange peel, and salt in the pot with 180 ml of water.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop to the lowest simmer your stove will hold. On a campfire, move the pot to the edge of the coals.
- Simmer eight to ten minutes, stirring often. The berries swell and start breaking apart against the spoon.
- Mash the softened berries against the side of the pot until it looks like a coarse sauce.
- Pull it off the heat. It thickens as it cools, so stop while it still looks a little loose.
The original is a canning recipe: fresh berries, jars, a gel test, and a pectin set you check on a frozen plate. None of that travels. Dried cranberries do the same job in reverse — instead of cooking water out of fresh fruit, you cook a measured amount of water in and stop before it goes past sauce.
Cranberry pectin still does the thickening, so the sauce firms up noticeably as the pot cools. That is the reason to pull it early. Dried orange peel and apple juice powder carry the acid and background sweetness that the juice and fresh zest provided, and they weigh almost nothing.
Packing
Combine everything dry in one bag at home. In camp it is one bag, one pot, one measure of water.
Variations
- A splash of whiskey or bourbon stirred in off the heat.
- Cinnamon stick or a few crushed cloves during the simmer.
- Cook it down thicker and spread it on tortillas the next morning.
https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/jellied-cranberry-sauce-canning-recipe