Can I make cranberry sauce from dried cranberries?

Question

I live overseas and we can't get fresh or canned cranberries here - but we can get Craisins. For Thanksgiving I thought maybe I could make a cranberry sauce out of them but I read somewhere that it won't work because of the lack of pectin in dried fruit to make the sauce gel. Has anyone made cranberry sauce out of Craisins before? Or have other ideas for Thanksgiving side dishes that I could make with Craisins?

Answer

I don't like cranberry sauce but I love dried cranberries and cranberry juice so I came up with what I think cranberry sauce should be. I make an orange cranberry sauce with dried cranberries which might work well for you.

Whisk together 2 cups cranberry juice (NOT THE CRANBERRY JUICE COCKTAIL), 2 teaspoons cornstarch and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over med. low heat; cook for five minutes, whisking occasionally, until mixture is reduced by one third. Stir in 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries, 1 cup orange marmalade, 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, pinch of allspice.

Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for another 8-10 minutes or until cranberries are slightlty rehydrated. Stir in one cup of fresh orange sections, pith removed (don't use mandarin oranges) and remove from heat. Chill before serving. *You can add more sugar if it's not sweet enough for you and/or stir in some chopped toasted pecans or walnuts for variety

Answer

When I want jellied cranberry sauce, nothing else works for me. Well, my can usually says ""Jellied" cranberry sauce. Sooo, I figure you can treat it like any fruit when you are going to make jelly. Follow the instructions on the "Sure Jell" package. I also would imagine the consistency would depend on whether you pureed your cranberries or perhaps even ommitted the skins altogether like when you make grape jelly. I hope you enjoy it. 

P.S. be creative and use candy molds and make all kinds of decorative plates with your fresh veggies and deviled eggs.

Answer

well, here it is! This thanksgiving we were supposed to have alot of people over for dinner. Because of the weather conditions, no one showed, to include the one who was bringing the cranberry sauce.So. looking through the pantry, we realized there was no cranberry sauce. All we had was dried craisins and this is the recipe we will use from here on out because it rocked the cranberry sauce kingdom.

dried cranberry sauce for thanksgiving:

1 1/2 cups dried craisins
3/4 cup water or preferably cranberry juice or pomegranate cran mix
1/3 cup sugar
dried orange peel, real, orange
1/4 tsp salt
 peel, orange marmalade, or orange juice instead of water
add all ingredients and boil lightly until the cranberries plump up. then add 2 tbl of cornstarch to 4 tbl of water and add it slowly while at a slow simmer till it is thick and of the right consistency.

you will never go back to canned cranberry sauce again. we were absolutely pleased that we not only pulled this off in a snow storm, but that it was better than any cranberry sauce we had ever had,

Answer

I've had a good cranberry/fruit relish made with dried cranberries--maybe that would be suitable stand in?
Basically finely diced fall fruits like apples, pears, etc. plus some citrus flesh and zest plus craisins. Chopped nuts and spices if desired. It's pomegranate season where you are--perhaps you could throw in some of that and other more local seasonal fruits. Come to think of it, pomegranate might be an interesting juice to make a jelly with that would have the tartness of cranberry. Or what if you softened the cranberries in pomegranate juice, pureed the whole thing and then added pectin to make a jelly?

Answer

absolutely - I thought last year I was going to be stuck with dried cranberries, and found dozens of recipes, with several right here on Chowhound. Found cranberries at the 11th hour, but it was looking bad for a while.

You can always cut up an apple to replace the pectin if you (or someone else) wants a more "set" sauce. I don't like the firm canned stuff, but I do prefer it with a jam-like consistency.

you could alternatively stir them into your stuffing/dressing, too.

Answer

Just thought I'd pass this on...in many countries they grow different kinds of squash, if you cut it up and add just water like 3inches to the bottom of the pan, put a lid on and let it cook thru. When soft scrape it out of the shell or peal, and use as pumpkin, or put in blender and use like canned pumpkin.
Thanks for the cranberry recipe!

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