Cranberry Jello

Here is the recipe my husband uses for his Thanksgiving cranberry dish.

1 lb Cranberries
2 C. Orange juice
1/2 C. honey
2 Tb. plain gelatin
Grated rind of one orange (optional)
1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple
1/2 Pint Whipping cream
1 C chopped walnuts

Boil cranberries in orange juice until berries pop. Add honey and gelatin; let mixture cool. Add orange rind, pineapple, and nuts. Whip cream and fold it into the jello. Pour mixture into a mold and refrigerate to set.

My comments:

Since cranberries now come in 12 ounce packages instead of 16 ounce ones, my husband sometimes takes extra from a second bag and sometimes he does the math to reduce everything by25%.

In all the times we have made this since we've been married about half the time we have had trouble with the gelatin. If we just dump in the gelatin part of it turns into inedible globs and is hard to remove before eating. Dissolving it in water didn't work very well, either, and if you do that you need to reduce the orange juice by the amount of water that is used. What has worked best is me constantly stirring the pot while he sprinkles the gelatin over the sauce. Also, since the gelatin we have comes in packages it is hard to measure in tablespoons. Last time he used 2.5 packages for 12 ounces of berries* and it worked out well.

When I said something to my mother-in-law about this recipe she said that she didn't like it because it was too greasy with the cream and that she only makes it because her children all like it so much. Neither my husband or I have ever noticed any greasiness, but if that sort of fat bothers you, you probably could use Cool Whip. What I have noticed, however, is that it is very acidic. I didn't notice that this year but, unlike most other Christmases, I am not pregnant and when I am pregnant I am very sensitive to acid.

Finally, we have never used a mold for this. A glass bowl works fine, and if you don't have that then I guess use plastic. For some reason I am under the impression that stainless steel wouldn't work very well.

Enjoy!

* He just told me that this time he used 12 ounces of berries but kept all the other ingredients the same just to see if it would work this way. I guess it did.