I love the fall of the year, the changing of the leaves, Pumpkin Spice and Thanksgiving.  One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is cooking for the family, a tradition my sister and I started several years ago.  Each year we progress a little closer to a NON-Processed Thanksgiving and this year will be the closest year yet.  Cranberry Sauce was one of the few things last year that I put on the table that didn’t come from our canned goodies.  That won’t be the case this year!  I found this recipe, made my own and oh my stars, it’s good!!!  I could eat an entire jar – by myself!!!

Get the water bath canner, lids, rings and jars ready.  I place my clean, sterile jars in the oven on 250 degrees until I’m ready to use them.  Place a few metal spoons in the freezer to get them ready for the “sheeting” process later.

Yields: 7 pints

• 6 cups sugar
• 6 cups water
• 12 cups of fresh berries (1 – 12 oz bag = 3 cups)

Wash berries and be sure to pull out any berries that are soft, bad or simply not good.

In a large stainless steel stock pot, combine sugar and water.

Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Boil hard for 5 minutes.  Add cranberries and bring it back up to a boil.

Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until all berries burst.  This will sound like you’re popping popcorn!  Boil until the liquid begins to “sheet” from a metal spoon, this takes about 15 minutes.

Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 in headspace.  Remove any air bubbles.

If necessary, adjust headspace by adding more hot liquid.  Wipe rim with sterile cloth to ensure there’s no residue to prevent a proper seal.  Center lid on jar.  Screw down band until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in the canner, ensuring that they are completely covered with hot water.  Add more hot water if needed to cover jars by 1 to 2 inches.  Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.  Remove the canner lid, wait 5 minutes before removing the jars.  Remove the jars, place them on a towel, on the kitchen counter and cover the jars with a towel.  (Be careful not to sit the hot jars on a towel on a wooden table, it will make rings on your table).  Let sit 12-24 hrs before moving.  You should hear the PING within the 1st hour.  If a jar doesn’t seal, reprocess or put in the fridge for immediate enjoyment.