Traci here. When I was a kid, I wouldn’t even try the canned cranberry sauce because I was convinced that anything holding the shape of the can was suspect. I wasn’t health-conscious at the time. Not even close. It was just something about the jiggle and the ridges that made me squirm inside. It wasn’t tempting in the least.

Many many years later I would discover the health benefits of cranberries and the damage caused by the sugar used in commercial cranberry sauce and mainstream homemade recipes to offset their sour, slightly bitter flavor.

Skya and I have an amazingly delicious solution to the cranberry sauce sweetening debacle and we are excited to share it with you just in time for your holiday meal! This recipe is simple, quick, delicious, and only has a few ingredients. There are some optional add ins to customize it to your taste, so play with multiple versions!

Meet your sweeteners…

Hello, glorious pineapple! We know it takes a couple years just to grow one of you.

Aloha, beautiful dragonfruit! We hope you don’t mind being optional since not everyone can get you.

Why do the holidays make us feel like poo?

There’s a tendancy toward more stress, chemicals in processed food, and booze, but there is also lots and lots and lots of sugar, especially the processed kind. Blood sugar spikes and crashes not only make us feel bad after a meal, but they also put us in fat storage mode, make us cranky and increase overall sugar cravings. They also make us age faster. Do you feel old? Try cutting out sugar and processed food for starters. Oh, also self deprication and guilt.

This sauce does have naturally occurring sugars that make it taste sweet and heavenly, but it has none of the concentrated, refined sugar that can zap your energy at the holiday table and send you on a glycemic roller coaster.

Notice how refined sugars do harm that almost exactly counters the benefits of cranberries and pineapples!

So why should this tropical cranberry sauce seduce you?

Just for the taste of it, yo! It is tart, fruity, tangy, sweet, savory and just a touch of aromatic (thank you, cloves).
It’s quick, easy and sure to impress your holiday guests!
This version of a holiday classic is both delicious, and it is sweetened with health supporting whole fruit. When fruit sugars are in their whole foods context, with fiber and wide array of nutrients, they behave much differently in the body than extracted, processed sugars.
Nothing is sacrificed and everything is gained.

A note about staying balanced…

Even natural whole foods based sugars, like fruit, turn to sugar in your blood, so it’s important to balance nutritious carbohydrates with unrefined fats, proteins and non starchy veggies. We serve this over organic roasted turkey with lots of veggies, like cauliflower mash and garlicky greens or green beans (or whatever is yummy to you).

However, you don’t have to wait for the holidays. You can serve this sauce as a fruit compote with any savory dish, such as steak, fish or grilled vegetables. You may also use it instead of jam or jelly, or even as a pie or cobbler filling. Use your imagination!

We encourage you to use local and organic ingredients when possible, always read labels, and never hesitate to play with your food!

Tropical Cranberry Sauce

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Ingredients

1 lb. fresh or frozen whole cranberries
1 medium pineapple, cubed (if pineapple is not available where you live, you can substitute diced red apple, about 4 cups)
1/3 teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste
A pinch or two of high mineral salt (to taste), such as high quality true hawaiian, Himalayan, Celtic or Real Salt
Optional (for taste, texture, good looks and nutritional variety): 1 dragon fruit, cubed (red inside is gorgeous, but any color will do)
Optional (if you want it sweeter): 2 oranges, 1 juiced & 1 cut into bite size pieces with the seeds removed
Optional (this is a better option than the oranges for diabetics and folks with weight issues or chronic illness): pure liquid stevia to taste, like sweet leaf brand (in glycerine or water-no weird stuff)

Instructions

Cook cloves, salt and all fruit, except dragonfruit (if adding), on the stove at medium high heat for about 20 minutes.
Once the cranberries break down and the sauce turns red, add the dragon fruit and cook until warm and soft.
Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add any desired stevia at this point (start with just a few drops if you are not used to using it, as too much can make it turn bitter). Enjoy warm or cold!