Cranberry ‘Mincemeat’

• Cranberries – in Polish – żurawiny – grew in the area around where my father used to live – the part in the North East that was Poland before WW2.
• Lingonberries – in Polish  – borȯwki – its smaller rounder ‘cousin’ also grew there.
• My aunties who now live in Białystok had many memories of going out to pick baskets of these fruits.
• In fact it is one of these aunts that gave me the recipe for Cranberries & Pears Sauce, which I posted some time ago.
• The ‘mincemeat’ here is a reference to the old English fruit & spice mixture, popular at Christmas time, that decades ago was made with meat, often mutton.
• Nowadays in England the only meat reference is the fact that most of this fruit is mixed with beef suet.
• There is no suet or any other fat in this recipe.
• This with cranberries is a fresher tasting version but it will only keep in the refrigerator for around a month.
• If you are worried about this keeping problem then just make it with half these quantities and use quickly

INGREDIENTS

• 600g fresh cranberries
• Grated zest of 2 oranges or satsumas
• 150g granulated sugar
• 150g currants
• 150g raisins or sultanas
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon of ground cloves
• 125ml sherry

METHOD

• Have prepared 4 – 5 sterilised jar jars.
• Put the cranberries, sugar, zest and juice into a saucepan and heat till the fruit starts ‘popping’.
• Add the dried fruit and spices and continue heating and stirring for around 5 minutes.
• Add the sherry and continue heating and stirring for another 5-10 minutes until you have a thick liquid free mixture.
• Leave to go cold and pot up into cold sterilised jars.
• Keep in the fridge and use within a month.

• Option – not tested – some dried cranberries to replace some of the currants or raisins.