GRAMMY'S CRANBERRIES

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Bring to a boil. Add

1 bag cranberries (12 ounce)

Turn burner down,simmer 20-30 minutes(medium low, 3 on my stove).

Take off stove.  Add

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon nutmeg

11 oz. manderine oranges, drained

3 oz. orange jello

Stir 2 minutes.  Cool at room temperature then refrigerate.

Makes 3-4 cups.

This is Grammy's Cranberry Sauce recipe, Kelly's mother Varrel.  I think this recipe is from the 1950's.  After the war (1945) the most up-to-date, most exciting recipes used the newly minted, packaged foods.  Brands like Jello, General Mills, Campbells, were brought to you through the miracle of television.  It was even preached that babies should be feed pasturized canned milk from steralized baby bottles instead of feeding them the old fashioned unsanitary way.  When Varrel's family sat down to a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with green bean casserole, they felt gratitude for plentiful food, easily preserved and distributed around a now safe world.  The future was bright in America.

From the 1980's on Grammy would make gallons of this and pass out jars of it to the whole family every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was used all month and into January, like jam on toast and sandwiches.  It is one of Chad's favorites.

After Grammy died no recipe was found, for years she had made it from memory.  I had written it down several years earlier but there were different versions held by different family members.  I tried all combinations, letting Chad test each one until we found the most acurate recipe.  Thank you Grammy, you did good.