Zesty Whole Cranberry Sauce

A few Thanksgiving’s ago, my brother was inspired by Alton Brown to take Thanksgiving dinner into his own hands.  He was tired of ‘the usual turkey’ and canned cranberry sauce.  Mom was more than happy to hand over the preparation of these two Thanksgiving dinner necessities.  After much excitement, and $30 some-odd dollars of ingredients later, the turkey tasted no different than any other year.  Alton let us down!  The cranberry sauce, though, had a different outcome.  Never again will I allow canned cranberry sauce at our family Thanksgiving. 

I know what you’re thinking.  Adding orange zest to cranberry sauce is nothing new to the Thanksgiving table.  But why limit your turkey accompaniment to orange zest?  While I love oranges, I don’t discriminate when it comes to citrus fruits.  And thus, this simple recipe was born.

Not being one to enjoy standing over a stove waiting for something to simmer, I turned to my slow cooker for this one.  Set it and forget it come back occasionally to stir, my friends!

2 cups fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup grapefruit soda (such as Fresca)

1 tbsp. grapefruit zest

1/2 tbsp. lime zest

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on high for two hours, stirring each hour.  Reduce heat to low and cook an additional hour to hour and a half, until cranberries are tender.