• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Forager | Chef
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Interviews
  • Partnerships
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Interviews
  • Partnerships
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About
    • Recipes
    • Interviews
    • Partnerships
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Condiments

    Highbush Cranberry Sauce

    Published: Oct 6, 2020 Modified: Jan 26, 2023 Author: Alan Bergo

    Jump to Recipe

    If you've ever cooked with highbush cranberries, if you're like me, the first thing you did was probably try to imitate cranberry sauce. If you want an easy version that tastes like the real thing, read on.

    Highbush Cranberry Cranberry Sauce Recipe

    The flavor of the two fruits is kind of similar, but highbush cranberries are juicy, juicy, and make a brilliant red liquid and coulis. Regular cranberries really need to get cooked or pureed to become cranberry sauce like we think of in the U.S. and the naturally cook into a thick mash.

    Highbush cranberry juice is much more liquid, so to get it anywhere near the same consistency you'd probably need to cook down a thick coulis (fresh fruit puree) or thicken the juice with something, which is what I do here. 

    Highbush cranberries or Viburnum trilobum
    Highbush cranberries, or something like Viburnum trilobum, a variety that doesn't taste bitter and smell like wet dog. Picked the first week of October, north West WI.

    I don't really love using cornstarch much, which is something that people might reach for. Don't get me wrong, it works, for this I'd rather reach for a natural thickener. Apple sauce is plentiful this time of year, and naturally sweet so it's a shoe-in, although I try to not use too much as it will lighten the color of the sauce, which I think looks the best red/blush and not too pink.

    Highbush Cranberry Cranberry Sauce Recipe

    Other than that everything is straightforward. There's a little orange zest, a pinch of spices, enough grated ginger to make it a little spicy (if you're like me, you can tone it down a bit) and, the secret to a lot of my fruit recipes: a glug of vinegar. In a perfect world, you'd use highbush cranberry vinegar, but white wine vinegar is fine too. The vinegar does a few things: it stabalizes the mixture, and will stop it from fermenting, but moreso it's there to underscore the tartness and add some zip to ensure it can stand up to things like fatty pieces of meat. There's some white wine in the mix 

    Use the sauce anywhere you'd use cranberry sauce, and if you want a velvety texture like I sometimes do, puree it smooth in a blender to break up the apple particles. If you want it thicker, add another spoon of apple sauce. 

    Highbush Cranberry Cranberry Sauce Recipe
    Print Recipe
    5 from 9 votes

    Highbush Cranberry Sauce

    You can tweak the proportions of vinegar, water and wine here if you like, depending on availability and taste. But, using only water will taste like the sauce was made with only water. The sauce will change, develop and mellow over time. Makes about 2 cups
    Prep Time30 minutes mins
    Cook Time5 minutes mins
    Infusing time8 hours hrs
    Total Time8 hours hrs 35 minutes mins
    Course: Condiment
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: highbush cranberry
    Servings: 6 People
    Calories: 77kcal
    Author: Alan Bergo

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups (1 lb) highbush cranberries
    • ¼ cup white wine vinegar*
    • ½ cup dry white wine*
    • ¾ cup water
    • ½ cup apple sauce or more to thicken to taste
    • Zest of ¼ an orange
    • ½ oz piece of ginger grated*
    • Tiny pinch each ground cloves and allspice
    • 2 oz honey

    Instructions

    • Pulse the berries in a food processor or otherwise mash them up very well, then mix with the wine, water and vinegar and infuse overnight (stirring well a few times if you can remember).
    • The next day, pass the mixture through a food mill, or strain through strainer, pressing out the juices.
    • Combine all ingredients in a small pot, heat and bring to a simmer whisking, until thickened.
    • If you want it more thick, add some extra apple sauce, but don't add too much or it will dilute the color.
    • From here the sauce can be made and refrigerated for a week before serving, or canned. Serve warm or cold.

    Notes

    *You can make this without apple sauce to really drive the color home if you want, just reduce highbush cranberry coulis until it thickens.
    *You can mix and match the proportions of wine and vinegar here, kind of, if you only have one or the other it's fine, just substitute water, although it won't be the original version. 
     

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1oz | Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 36IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.3mg

    More 

    Highbush Cranberries

    Highbush Cranberry Cranberry Sauce Recipe
    « Matsutake Fried Rice
    Honey Truffles »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. gregory lewis

      September 15, 2023 at 3:51 pm

      in my 70s and been making and eating it as long as i can remmber. i pick over berries,and wash thoroughly.place in an enameled kettel and add water untill you can just see it below the berries.place on stove and cook untill skins pop.mash and press thru a strainer,letting as much pulp go through as possible.measure using one cup sugar to one cup pulp,cook slowly untill it sheets from a spoon.skim and put into sterilized jars and seal place in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 18, 2023 at 3:20 pm

        That sounds great. Thanks for Sharing Gregory.

        Reply
    2. Tracy Coonce

      September 13, 2023 at 8:53 pm

      5 stars
      Can you leave some full berries in the sauce for looks/will it affect the taste?

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 15, 2023 at 8:32 am

        No don’t do that.

        Reply
    3. Talia

      September 07, 2023 at 5:37 pm

      5 stars
      Do you blend up the seeds?

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 07, 2023 at 6:22 pm

        No, it'll make it bitter.

        Reply
        • Heidi

          September 15, 2023 at 7:58 am

          Haven’t tried this YET, but pulsing the berries, wouldn’t the seeds inside get chopped up too?

          Reply
          • Alan Bergo

            September 15, 2023 at 8:25 am

            No. They’re too juicy. See my post on them there’s a video of making coulis. Works like a charm.

            Reply
    4. Zuzanna

      August 16, 2023 at 10:43 am

      5 stars
      Can you make this in larger batches and can it?
      I love high-bush cranberries!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        August 16, 2023 at 10:51 am

        That should work, personally, I'd probably freeze it though.

        Reply
    5. KAYLA

      October 08, 2021 at 3:49 pm

      5 stars
      I’m about to try this recipe with Viburnum edule. Hopefully the wet dog smell doesn’t ruin it!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        October 08, 2021 at 4:31 pm

        Ooooof. I can't stand the pronounced wet dog smell of them. You're on you're own there! They look so inviting from a distance.

        Reply
        • Kayla

          October 09, 2021 at 1:51 pm

          5 stars
          It actually turned out very good! The wine must have cancelled out the smell, it’s perfect! 😄 thanks for the great recipe

          Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Chef Alan Bergo

    HI, I'm Alan: James Beard Award-winning Chef, Author, Show Host and Forager. I've been writing about cooking wild food here for over a decade. Let me show you why foraging is the most delicious thing you'll ever do.

    More about me →

    Get The Book

    the forager chef's book of flora
    The Forager Chefs Book of Flora

    As Seen On

    Footer

    Privacy

    Subscribe

    Be the first to hear what I'm doing

    Contact

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 Forager | Chef® Accessibility Statement