Better than anything you can buy in a jar!

You can of course *buy your cranberry sauce ready made in a jar, but home made sauce is so much nicer and it’s ridiculously easy to make. Most good supermarkets stock fresh cranberries from about November these days.  This is delicious with traditional Christmas day turkey or goose, in a leftovers turkey sandwich or with cold, carved gammon. You could also serve it as an alternative to chutney with a coarse pork or game paté as a Christmas starter.

You will need…

• 300g fresh cranberries
• 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
• zest and juice of an orange
• 2 tablespoons of ruby port

To make…

• Wash the cranberries and place them in a shallow pan over a gentle heat on the hob with the sugar, ginger, orange zest and juice.
• Cook gently for about 20 minutes until the berries have popped and the sauce has thickened – you are looking for a consistency that is a balance of whole berries to sauce. I like this to taste more tart than sweet, so check it and add more sugar if you prefer. Allow to cool.
• Stir in the port and store in a container until needed.
• This freezes well and is perfect for making ahead. However, as alcohol affects the freezing point, if you do freeze it omit the port and add it once it has defrosted.

PS: *If you do have to buy cranberry sauce, Tony Turnbull (food critic at The Sunday Times), gave 5/5 to the Waitrose Cranberry and Port sauce at £2.19 and Lidl’s Deluxe Cranberry & Port sauce for 99p. All others received the thumbs down including Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference and Tesco’s Finest offerings for being too jammy and sweet.