Up Next At The Jersey Shore…

Now that Halloween is complete, we can move on to the next holiday here at the Jersey Shore. No. I am not talking about Christmas. I am talking about Thanksgiving. Did some of you forget that after October is November THEN December? After Halloween is Thanksgiving followed by Christmas and New Year’s. Now that we got that straight, let’s talk about one of my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.

Most people may think it’s Tom the Turkey. Although I absolutely love turkey, my favorite is the cranberry sauce. I am not talking about the canned version, although that is good for a quick fix. Homemade cranberry sauce made with fresh cranberries straight out of the bogs of NJ.

Ocean County has a bog that is currently not being harvested. While doing some research I found out that in 2010 the farmers that were harvesting the cranberry crop at Double Trouble State Park retired and the state is actually looking to hire a new farmer to harvest the crop there.

Depending on where you live in Ocean County, you may be minutes from the Whitesbog Village Cranberry Bogs which supplies it’s crops to the Ocean Spray Plant in Chatsworth NJ. They have tours, so if you want to learn more about how this little berry is cropped, harvested and produced into some of your favorite products, CLICK HERE FOR WHITESBOG INFO.

Cranberry Sauce is super easy to make and you can add things to spice it up a bit. I prefer it plain. Here is my simple recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag of fresh cranberries (rinsed)

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

In a sauce pan, bring the water and sugar to a rolling boil on high heat. Add the cranberries. As the cranberries begin to pop, turn down the heat and stir continuously. Be careful they do pop! The longer you cook it, the thicker it becomes. I don’t strain mine, but you may not want the bits of cranberry in yours, so you may choose to strain it. Here’s the best part, you can either eat it warm which is super yum, or you can put it in a mold or bowl and refrigerate it for a few hours and it will become like the jelly you know out of the can!