The Charmed Kitchen

I bought quite a few bags of cranberries right after Thanksgiving. I popped them in the freezer to enjoy later. As part of my pantry challenge, I am trying to use the ingredients I already have, rather than go to the grocery store. I also did an inventory of my freezer. I wanted to get these cranberries out of my freezer and use them for something. I decided to make and can cranberry juice. I even used the leftover pulp (after I strained the juice) for cranberry fruit roll ups.

The juice came out great. So much better than store-bought. It was pretty easy, too.

I started with about 5 quarts of berries, which I had sorted out for bad ones, and rinsed. I measured them out and added an equal amount of water. I brought this mixture to a boil and let it cook until the berries starting popping. I strained the juice twice. First time through a fine strainer. Then I put the juice in the fridge overnight. This allowed the solids to settle to the bottom. The second time, I strained the juice through a strainer lined with cheesecloth.

I returned the juice to the pot and brought it up barely to a simmer (190 degrees). To sweeten it, I added less than a cup of sugar, which comes out to less than a 1/4 cup per quart of juice. Once the juice was up to a simmer, I ladled it into clean, hot quart canning jars. I filled them to about 1/4 inch from the top, wiped the rims and closed the jars. I also used the last of it to fill a pint jar. Processed in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Once the time was up, I turned off the heat and left the jars in the canner for five minutes before placing them on the counter to cool. Ended up with 5 quarts and 1 pint for my efforts.

After making cranberry juice I was left with a lot of pulp. I didn’t want to toss it, so I decided to make cranberry fruit roll ups with it. I mashed the pulp with a fork, then sweetened just a little- less than half a cup of sugar. I  spread the mixture on plastic wrap placed on the trays of my dehydrator. I ended up with 8 of them. I dried them overnight. They should be pliable but not sticky to the touch when done. A  friend stopped over yesterday and got a chance to taste one. She said she liked that the roll ups were not too sweet- they had a nice tartness to them. Once finished, I rolled them up in the plastic wrap and will store them in the fridge. Honestly, they aren’t going to be around long.