I am so excited for Thanksgiving.
This year, Stephen and I flew out to SLC to celebrate his brother’s wedding and, as a bonus, get to hang with all of our extended family on the big day! Basically, this week is going to be filled with so much love, family, and food and I just can’t contain my excitement!
Since I’m sure most of you already have your Thanksgiving meals planned (if not, click here for some awesome inspo) I figured I would give you some options for handling all of your Thanksgiving leftovers. In my family, the day after is always filled with turkey sandwiches and leftover sweet potato casserole but, for some reason, the leftover cranberries always get tossed away or relegated to the depths of the freezer until next year.
To help clear out valuable real-estate in your freezer (or prevent you from tossing a perfectly good bag of fresh cranberries) I decided to create a recipe for a simple (pectin-free) cranberry preserve. And, because it’s the holiday season, I decided to throw in some fresh persimmon to up the season appeal.
This is the perfect way to use a bunch of cranberries at once, and it only takes about 20 minutes to make. Which, is perfect after you just spent the day before slaving away in the kitchen. 
To make the jam, simply rinse the cranberries and add with the sugar to a large pot over a high heat for about 15 minutes (I crushed the cranberries as they cooked to make sure I didn’t have large chunks in the jam). Once the cranberries have broken down, add the diced persimmons and reduce to a medium heat and continue to cook for about 20-25 minutes or until thickened. (Quick tip about persimmons, you know they’re ripe when they almost look rotten. I know that seems counterintuitive, but if you want a sweet, soft fruit. Wait until they’re super soft, then peel the skin and cut around the pit.)
Once your jam is ready, you can use your preferred canning method or, if you want a tutorial, here is a good one. This is perfect over a freshly toasted slice of bread, or simply spooned into your mouth as you watch 12 Days of Christmas on ABC 🙂
- 5 cups of fresh cranberries
- 2½ cups of granulated sugar
- 1 persimmon peeled, and diced
