gardenamy, looking forward to hearing of your further adventures in canning! Beth, love your username! I am a dirtgirl myself --- love messing with soil. My DH often accuses me of gardening and canning just as an excuse to compost. And, Jim, I think a little orange zest sounds like a fine addition! Jim's Maple Cranberry butter, here we come.... (Though, legally, you may be interested to know, anyone can make any recipe and call it what they like, other than using someone's registered trademark or protected brand name; copyright laws cover a creative work's "fixed form" --- the words used to describe a recipe, but not the INFORMATION of how to make it. And patents protect certain PROCESSES if they've been registered. But people have been freely exchanging combos of ingredients and cooking techniques ever since Cave Lady A saw Cave Lady B stick her mastodon leg over the fire for a while before eating it and thought, "Darn, that smells better that way ! I'll have to try that." ;-) ) Z

Tami, no, I don't like jam, jelly or preserves made here, in the US. They're extremely sweet for me. I couple of days ago, I got some fresh strawberries, slided them up and put in a saucepan. I added a pinch of salt and enough sugar to my taste; then, simmered until fruits soften and sugar melted. No water was added. The sauce came out thick enough. I used that over the pancake and it was wonderful! Lou, I went to Walmart and exchanged the Karo syrup to the dark one. While I was there, I looked up for the Karo Pancake Syrup, Walmart didn't have it. Kroger or local grocery stores may have it but I haven't had the time to make that trip. I think I'm going to stick with the fresh fruits simmered in a bit of sugar, (depending how sweet the fruits are). This stuff seemed to become addicting somehow. I'm going to try it over some bisquits. too

Nearly everyone seems to be giving you breakfast and dessert ideas, so here is an entree for a change: CRANBERRY ROAST OF PORK 1-1/2 cups fresh cranberries 2/3 cup sugar 1 cup finely chopped onion 1/2 cup dry red wine + 1/2 cup dry red wine 4 pound loin of pork, either with bones or boneless Salt Pepper 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1 cup canned beef bouillon 1 Tablespoon cornstarch 1/3 cup cold water Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine berries, sugar, and water; boil, cook for 5 minutes until berries pop & mixture is thick. Add onion and 1/2 cup wine. Rub pork with salt, pepper, thyme. Place bone side down in roasting pan just large enough to hold the roast and juices that will develop. Spread cranberry mixture over roast. Roast 2-1/2 hours or about 40 minutes per pound or to internal temperature of 170 degrees. Combine remaining 1/2 cup of wine with beef bouillon and baste meat frequently with this and pan juices. If you need more, mix 1 part wine with 2 parts bouillon. Dont let pan juices scorch. (The onions will scorch a bit, even with basting, but they still taste good.) When roast is done, transfer to board for carving. To thicken pan juices if desired: Measure pan juices. For each cup of pan juice, mix 1 Tablespoon cornstarch with enough cold water to make a paste, then combine with the cooking liquid and cook until thick. Spread some sauce over carved meat and pass rest at the table. Serves 6. Adapted from Americana Magazine, November 1976 From my notes: Use a roasting pan just large enough to hold the meat and basting liquid to prevent evaporation of the yummy liquid. Baste gently so you dont disturb the cranberry-onion coating on the meat. We serve this with noodles to take advantage of the sauce.

Patti, yes, they will be mushy when thawed. I always buy two or so extra bags of fresh cranberries when they are in season and freeze them. They are okay to cook with, but most recipes that require raw, fresh cranberries will definitely have a different texture with thawed from frozen berries.