Now that cranberries are in season, I just had to try a hundred-year-old recipe for Spiced Cranberries. Spiced Cranberries are NOT like the ubiquitous cranberry sauce that seems to be everywhere each holiday season, but rather are more of a chutney with a delightful sweet-sour flavor that is a perfect accompaniment to meat or poultry. In addition to cranberries, this recipe calls for sugar, vinegar, and a lovely mixture of fall spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice).
Here is the original recipe:
The old recipe makes a lot – and indicates that the Spiced Cranberries should be canned. I decided to make less – and purchased one 12-ounce package (about 3 cups) of fresh cranberries, and then adjusted all of the other ingredients based on the amount of cranberries. Here is the updated recipe:
Spiced Cranberries
1 12-ounce package (about 3 cups) fresh cranberries
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 1/8 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
Wash cranberries, then combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil using medium heat, reduce heat to low and gently simmer for 45 minutes. (Do not cover pan. This mixture boils over very easily.) Remove from heat. May be served either warm or cold.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I really like this recipe. I have some frozen ones left over from last year in the freezer and this is the solution that I need. I book marked this to use. Thanks for finding this recipe.
You’re welcome. It’s nice to hear that this is a recipe you plan to make.
I’m surprised by the amount of sugar. The relish I make only uses 1/3 to 1/2 c. honey for one bag of cranberries, and I’ve never felt the need to add more. I’d never before looked for a sugar/honey conversion chart, but I found 1/2 c. honey equals 2/3 c. sugar. Very interesting. I suppose more is needed here to balance the vinegar as well as the tartness of the berries.
The conversion ratio between sugar and honey is interesting. I had never thought about the possibility of substituting one for the other in a recipe.
Interesting recipe. I think it would go well with pork.
Yes, it’s good with pork. The meat in the photo in the post is sliced roast pork.
I absolutely adore cranberries! Love this recipe and the fact is actually pretty easy to make!
You should give it a try. It’s easy to make. The only thing tricky about it, is that the cranberry mixture has a tendency to boil over. When I brought the cranberries to a boil, it really bubbled up. I reduced the heat some – and it still boiled very rapidly. In the end, I reduced the heat to the lowest setting on my stove, and it simmered nicely.
I definitely will! Thank you for the advice! I’d love to make this!!
I am going to try this recipe instead of the regular cranberry sauce recipe I usually make for Thanksgiving.
I think you’ll like it. It has a very nice sweet-sour flavor.
I’ve saved this recipe and plan to make it for Thanksgiving. Usually when I find a recipe calling for fresh cranberries, fresh ones are not available. Thanks for this very timely post.
You’re welcome. I saw cranberries in the store last week, and thought that it was a good time to look for a hundred-year-old cranberry recipe.
You were spot on!
I’m glad to see that you reduced the allspice down to 1 teaspoon. That spice is intense and the 1 Tablespoon in the original recipe had me worried. 😳
The original recipe made a lot of spiced cranberries with the assumption that they’d be canned. I reduced the size of the recipe so that only one 12-oz. bag of cranberries was needed-and then reduced the other ingredients proportionally. I don’t think that I actually changed the ratio between allspice and the other ingredients. In any case, it seemed to work in this recipe.
Interesting. I’m fond of allspice in anything so this recipe looks good to me. Thanks for sharing it.
This sounds like a nice addition to the Thanksgiving meal!
Yes, it would be a nice addition.
I like spiced peaches so I’m sure I would enjoy this cranberry recipe. I like the sweet tart combination.
I think that you’d like this recipe. It’s yummy.
I can imagine this is good,your picture makes me very hungry!
It’s tasty. It’s nice to hear that you liked this photo. I’m still working on my photography skills, and some pictures turn out better than others.
Hmm, I bet this smell wonderful! (And taste good, too). 🙂
What I meant to type is: I bet this smellS good and tasteS good, too.
It’s tasty, and has a mild warm spicy smell.
I’m making this RIGHT NOW- going to serve it with the pork loin in the oven. Truly love the blog- thank you!
Thank you for the kind words about this blog. I hope that you enjoyed the spiced cranberries.
This looks wonderful for a cranberry lover like me. I have to try this!