Most of the time, I do my preserving in relatively small batches. However, as we begin to approach the gift giving time of year, I take inventory of what I have in the pantry and then make a few very large batches to round out the selection (Scott likes to give his co-workers some of my jams and pickles, and I typically put together gift bags for neighbors and family members).
One fruit I rely on heavily for these larger, holiday-themed batches is the mighty cranberry. It has great flavor, contains a goodly amount of pectin (which means there’s never any doubt that it will set up), and goes beautifully with all manner of wintertime fare.
This is not my first go-round with cranberry jam (I shared a basic batch the first year this site was around and did a tin can molded version back in 2011), but I like this one because it has plenty of flavor and retains its essential tartness. Of course, if you want to temper the boldness of the cranberry, you can try pear cranberry jam, cranberry marmalade, apple cranberry jam, or cranberry quince sauce.
When making this jam for gift giving, I cook it until the berries are mostly popped and will sometimes use a potato masher to help break it down a bit more. If you prefer a smoother spread, you could either introduce an immersion blender or push the jam through a food mill for something that it mostly skin and seed-free.
Because cranberries are quite high in acid, this is a recipe you play around with a little without causing unsafe conditions. Swap out the spices and drop in a vanilla bean instead. Use more orange zest and juice for a citrusy punch. Go wild and add a little cayenne or ancho chili powder to provide some heat. Unless you start adding handfuls of garlic and onion, you’d be hard pressed to make an unsafe cranberry jam.
Oh, and one more note about cranberries. If you like sweet and tangy things and you haven’t tried my pickled cranberries yet, consider making up a batch while they’re in stores this season.
Now your turn. What cranberry jams, sauces, and jellies are you making this time of year?
Spiced Cranberry Jam
Ingredients
- 3 pounds fresh cranberries about 12-14 cups
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups apple cider
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 1 orange zested and juiced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath and necessary jars. Place lids in a small saucepan and bring to a bare simmer.
- Combine the cranberries, sugar, cider, and orange and lemon juice and zest in a large pot (use a big one, this jam will bubble) over high heat.
- Bring to a boil, skimming off the foam that develops on the top of the fruit. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries pop.
- Add the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves and stir to combine.
- Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until the jam looks quite thick. If it appears to be thickening too much before all the cranberries are popped, add a splash of water to loosen.
- Ladle jam into jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.
If you made this with jalapeño?
You could add some small amount of jalapeno, but you don’t want to use too much as it could change the acidity of the finished preserve and make it unsafe for canning.
Do you have any recipes for no sugar or low sugar
I have a low sugar pear cranberry jam recipe. https://foodinjars.com/recipe/low-sugar-pear-cranberry-jam/
This looks like a great idea! I will definitely give it a try!
I love to make cranberry jalapeno jelly and friends ask for it every year! So good on goat cheese and crackers. I actually had it just now on a peanut butter sandwich!
Cranberry jalapeno sounds like a delicious combination.
don’t you have to use pectin?
No. Cranberries are naturally pectin rich enough that there is no need.
Hi, I was wondering if you could increase the sugar content to 6 cups and still have it safe to can, and shelf stable. I love all the ingredients, but my husband likes his cranberry jam and relishes on the (much) sweeter side. Thank you.
Yes! There’s no risk at all to increasing the sugar content.
Tried to reply to your reply, but it won’t let me do it.(Thank you for your reply, btw).
I did look at your cranberry apple jam recipe, but I need a high cranberry content, because I have A LOT of cranberries to use. So this one was really perfect. Plus it had the oranges, and the orange peels, and the spices, all of which I want in a cranberry recipe. I guess I could not use the apples, if you think it won’t work. 🤷♂️
You can use the apples. Cranberries and apples are both high in acid, so it’s hard to do anything to them that would make them unsafe.
Can I put 3 or 4 diced apples in there? Also, can I sub orange juice or apple juice for the cider? My husband is unfortunately not a fan of cider. 😒
It sounds like you might be better served if you used my cranberry apple jam recipe. And you can certainly use orange or apple juice in place of the cider. https://foodinjars.com/recipe/gift-in-a-jar-apple-cranberry-jam/
Looks like a lovely recipe. I’m looking forward to trying this. My go to recipe is cranberry plum.
1 bag cranberry
1 cup plum wine
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp. Butter
Cook 10 to 15 min
I’ve made 3 batches in 2 weeks and I’m out again.
Enjoy.
This looks wonderful and I want to try it. I have made this cranberry pepper jelly recipe as a freezer jam for several uears now, and it is always a hit. https://thecafesucrefarine.com/cranberry-sriracha-pepper-jelly/
This year I plan to do a water bath version, thanks to your wonderful instructions.
I’m willing to wager that apple cider vinegar was used LOL!!!!
There’s really no other way to mess this up.
I’ve been making versions of this for decades…I frequently swap out the apple juice with orange, cherry, cranberry, pomegranate, etc, and it always turns out great.
Pucker up, buttercup! This is the worst (!) recipe I have ever made. After collecting wild cranberries for a few hours, thought I would try making a spiced jam. What a mistake. Cranberries are tart to begin with, adding apple cider and lemon to them. Ouch. What exactly did you plan to use this jam for? Certainly not on toast. If not a jam (as in to use on toast), maybe chutney should have been part of the title. Really! Am so disappointed for all the hours I put in to making this, not even including what a waste of wild cranberries. So, so not worth the time and effort!! Bah!
I’m really sorry to hear that you didn’t like it. I do wonder if part of the issue was the wild cranberries. This recipe was developed with cultivated berries so that might be part of the issue. The other thing that raises a flag for me is your assertion that apple cider is tart. When I said apple cider, I meant the fresh pressed, unfiltered apple juice that you often get in the fall at farmers market. In my experience this cider is quite sweet. Could you have potentially used a different kind?
While in self isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, I cleaned out my freezer. To my surprise I had 6 pounds of cranberries I bought last November. I put them to good use today and made 20 half pint jars of this delicious jam. Thanks, Marissa for your easy recipes. Now I’m ready for Holiday gift giving and it’s only March!
Quick question- Using your recipe without the powdered spices, could I use crystalized ginger in this recipe? Thinking if I chop it small enough it would still be safe as the crystalized ginger is already shelf stable? Am I ok to do so?
That change would turn it into more of a conserve than a true jam, but there’s no safety reason why you couldn’t do it.
Hi, could I substitute the spices and use jalapeños? I’ve been searching for a cranberry jalapeño canned jam recipe and found yours and thought I might be able to use this recipe.
Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.
Thank you.
I’ve not done it, but you can certainly give it a try.
Thanks for sharing the recipie. Can you kindly explain what you mean by “process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes”.
Read this post: https://foodinjars.com/2013/07/new-to-canning-start-here-boiling-water-bath-canning/
I work at an organic market and we just received our local farm produce. I picked up some fresh young ginger and turmeric today. While I was preparing the ingredients for this recipe I grated the young turmeric instead of the ginger. What a happy accident! I also added ground allspice and nutmeg along with the cinnamon and ground cloves. I am very happy with the results. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I put in a few squirts of Maple Syrup as I wanted this to be sweeter and used the immersion blender. Came out amazing. I think I canned it a little runny as I didn’t want the jam to be too think. Right, it’s August but I froze cranberries last winter to make something like this Came out really good, thanks.
This sounds intriguing 🙂 My question is, is there a substitute for the apple cider? For example, would apple juice work instead?
Apple cider is just unfiltered apple juice, so of course you can make that swap.
I made cranberry jelly or I should say I tried but it wouldn’t set up.I put hot peppers in it ,could that be the trouble?
What recipe did you follow?
I made strawberry cranberry jam last year for Christmas gifts. I just finished spiced pear jam that I made from the skins of the pears I peeled for canning. I ended up with 6 quarts of diced pears in light syrup and 16 half pints of spiced pear jam from 16 lbs of pears. I was looking for a recipe for spiced pear jam, and came across your website, but didn’t have vanilla beans. I was interested in what I was reading though, so I came back to check it out now that I am finished canning for the day. I think this recipe for spiced cranberry jam sounds really interesting. I have been seeing cranberries in the store this week and have been thinking I should start making Christmas Jams. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I love canning and love to learn from others who share the passion!
Can I convert the sugar to honey? If yes, do you substitute 1:1?
Have you seen my new cookbook, Naturally Sweet Food in Jars? It’s all about preserving with honey, maple, agave, coconut sugar, fruit juice concentrates, and dried fruits.
If you’re converting from sugar to honey, you always use at least 1/3 less honey than sugar.
Hi. I would like to make this recipe to give the finished jam as gifts this Christmas. I have a few family members who are diabetic so I’d like to cut the sugar with stevia. What do you know about cannning with stevia? Do you think it would be safe to replace half the sugar with stevia equivelant? Or even more stevia than sugar? What about no sugar at all? Thank you!
Unfortunately, swapping stevia in for sugar isn’t an easy process or one for which I can offer you a formula. Stevia often gets quite bitter when combined with acidic things like fruit (that’s the first obstacle). Second is the fact that sugar plays an integral role in the set and preservation process. When you remove sugar, you end up with syrupy preserves that spoil quickly.
You can use non-sugar sweeteners in preserving, as long as you use a pectin designed for that approach and you accept that their shelf life will be reduced. I suggest you take a look at pomonapectin.com, as their product is a pectin designed for low and no sugar canning. They have a collection of recipes on their site that should lead you in the right direction.
Hi I have a question, how long do you cook it for?
Like it says in the recipe, you cook it for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries pop. Then you add the spices and cook until it seems thick to you. Because there’s natural variation in cranberries, I can’t tell you precisely how long it will take. In some cases, another five minutes of cooking might be all you need. Other times, it could take 15-20. It varies.
I love that I always find your website when I search for recipes and can rely on the quality and safety of the recipes.
I am wondering if this recipe is more like home made cranberry sauce in taste (tart, orangy) as I am really looking for a sweet spread for toast. What is the best thing to add to offset the tart…I am thinking sugar but maybe you have other ideas? I’ll go dig your book out now 🙂
This recipe is definitely tart. A little more sugar, or some maple syrup would help tame it.
Hi Marisa – I have a freezer full of cranberries. Should I defrost them before making this jam? Thanks!
HI! So excited to try this. Question – can I add another orange and 4 apples and still be safe to can?
Also – if we 86 the spices and add jalapenos and sriracha sauce are we ok?
Yes. Normally I tell people to watch out when they add hot peppers, but there are so many high acid ingredients in this recipe that you should be just fine. And sriracha is half vinegar, so that’s okay too.
Hey, thinking of trying this recipe for gifts, how long does the jam last once it’s sealed in a jar? Thanks
At least a year.
Could you add chopped walnuts or pecans to this recipe?
I want to try your recipe. Can you tell me how many jars I will be able to fill using 3 pounds of cranberries?
Thanks a lot!
Sarah, it’s right there in the recipe. Three pounds of cranberries makes five pints.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have a question, I doubled the recipe and opted out of using the apple cider, instead I used water and one packet of gelatin, but kept the same amount of sugar. The jars all sealed properly and I processed for over 15 minutes (I am at a higher elevation). Is my recipe still safe (I’m giving as gifts)?
Yep, it’s fine. The cranberries are high enough in acid in on their own for canning. The juice is just there for flavor.
Oh wonderful, thank you for responding so quickly. I’m hooked on foodinjars.com!
How do you sanitize you jars before using them? Dishwasher, boiling water, oven?
Thank you 😉
My process is detailed in this post: https://foodinjars.com/2013/07/new-to-canning-start-here-boiling-water-bath-canning/