Canning Seedless Cranberry Sauce

Like a lot of families, I grew up with the classic Thanksgiving Dinner with the turkey, ham, dinner rolls, stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy; you know - the usual... But there was one thing that differed from others; the cranberry sauce that seemed to grace everyone's table but ours...

Now that I'm older and with my own family and I'm setting my own table with foods, I'm trying out foods to figure out what it is that I like. Guess what; I love the Jellied Cranberry Sauce that comes in the can to go with my turkey. Thinking of how much I love the cranberry sauce with my foods, I could only imagine what it would be like if I made it from scratch and canned it on my own!

The first year I made the cranberry sauce, it was perfect! I gelled it in the jar with flat sides, so it slid right out into the dish, ready for me to slice it up and serve. It was so great, I was ready to do it again, but when the next year came around - I couldn't find the recipe I used!!! What could have possibly happened???

After many, many days of searching online - I couldn't find one that used pectin, that was seedless and didn't have any of the added stuff (oranges, cinnamon, cloves; what have you not) - I wanted cranberry sauce. After much searching online I picked a recipe (pectin free) and I gave it a go - just using the recipe online minus the added extra seasonings.... 

Should work out, plain and simple, right??? Should be easy - right? I'm not sure what happened, but my first 4 pounds of cranberries went into the garbage disposal - yes, that's right - It doesn't always turn right every time for me. It didn't gel at all, and it had a sharp weird flavor to it - no saving it; nope, not even worth the trouble. 

After a little more experimenting - I finally found the right ratios - so nice in fact, after the first taste: my eyes rolled to the back of my head!

Makes 2 batches

Cranberry Sauce Ingredients - 

4 lbs fresh cranberries (2 large bags)

8 cups white sugar - divided

water 

2 tsp butter - divided (optional)

2 boxes of Sure Jell powdered pectin

About 13-14 sterile half-pint canning jars with matching lids and rings (look for the ones that are straight sided and smooth)

7 quart saucepan

Pour cranberries into a colander and rinse off with hot water, removing the brown and mushy berries. 

Pour berries into a 7 quart saucepan. On medium-heat, slightly heat the cranberries; stir to evenly heat. You will hear some popping, it's like listening for the last pop in a popcorn maker... Only heat the berries up enough for them to change to a solid color instead of their fresh looking tonal mix of color. 

Before the cranberries turned to a solid color. 

Remove from saucepan from heat and process through a Victorio Strainer using the berry screen attachment. **Not ALL the seeds will be screened, but the majority of them will and the remaining seeds will be so small you will not notice them.

Run the seeds/peeling remnants through the Victorio Strainer a second time to get the remaining bit of cranberry sauce off the seeds, scrape the berry screen to get every last cranberry squeezed through the Victorio Strainer.

You will get about 5.5 cups of super thick, pure cranberry sauce. Pretty, pretty!

Measure your sauce into a large bowl. Add enough water to equal the next multiple of 4 cups. For example: if you have 3.3827 cups of cranberry sauce, add water until you reach 4 cups. If you have 6.24 cups of cranberry sauce, add enough water to equal 8 cups; and so on. **A 4 cup measuring cup is very helpful for this part. 

Add ALL the cranberry sauce and water to one large bowl and mix well. 

Now, you're ready to can your cranberry sauce.

Make only one batch at a time - do not double the recipe.

Ingredients for one batch:

4 cups Cranberry Sauce - as prepared above

4 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon butter

1 box Sure-Jell powdered pectin

Prepare your Victorio Steam Canner on low heat, with about 1 teaspoon of vinegar in the water. Place lids in boiling water for at least 1 minute. Set up your jars, ladle, funnel, hot pads, and all your canning tools, so the jars are ready to be filled. 

Measure 4 cups of sugar in a bowl and set it within reach of your saucepan. 

Add 4 cups of cranberry sauce pulp to your 7 quart saucepan. Add 1 box pectin. Add 1 tsp butter. 

Bring to a boil, medium-high heat, stirring constantly. When you can no longer stir down the boil, or you can no longer stand the popping splatter on your arm: all at once, dump the whole bowl of sugar into the saucepan. 

Stirring constantly, return to boil. You want to look for a full rolling boil, a few bubbles here and there is not quite what you want; just wait for it... You will see it... Once you have the full rolling boil, set your timer for 1 minute...

Turn up the heat on your Steam Canner **Make sure you are familiar with your steam canner directions prior to canning and follow the directions for the steam canner.

Once your timer goes off, turn off the heat to the saucepan, remove your saucepan from the burner and continue stirring until there are no more bubbles.

Ladle sauce into jars, filling to a 1/4 inch away from the top rim.

It is okay if you have one jar that is not completely filled. If you are doing a second batch, start filling that jar first. If not, pretend the jar is full. With a damp cloth, wipe the rims of the jars to remove any jelly. Place the two-part lid with rings onto the jars and finger tighten them, do not palm tighten - some air needs to escape in order for the jars to seal. 

Place filled jars onto the steam canner tray and steam for 10 minutes, adjust time recommended by your altitude. Follow the directions for the steam canner in order to know when to start the timing for the steam canner.

To enjoy: Run hot water over the outside of the jar for a minute. Let the jelly slide out onto a dish to serve.