Preserving Cranberry Sauce

Our answer

Nigella's Redder Than Red Cranberry Sauce (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is easy to make and the cranberries are cooked until they have just burst. As cranberries contain a lot of pectin the sauce will thicken a lot as it cools.

However we do not think that the sauce is particularly suitable for home preserving as the ratio of sugar to fruit is slightly low in comparison with most jams and preserves. Sugar and heat are the two factors that contribute to the keeping quality of a home-made preserve and usually the weight of sugar is equal to the weight of fruit. Commercial low sugar jams and preserves use acids to improve keeping qualities of these products, but unfortunately we are not able to advise on how to use these for the cranberry sauce recipe. The sauce does freeze well and can be frozen for a month in an airtight container. Freeze the sauce as soon as it has cooled to room temperature and thaw overnight in the fridge before using. Once the sauce has been defrosted it should be kept in the fridge and used within a week.