Ingredient · Ingredients
Cranberry
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A high-acid berry that, if not overripe, Ohio State treats as able to gel with sugar alone — and a Group II fruit in U.S. jam identity.
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Cranberry is a tart bog berry. Ohio State places cranberries in Group I: if not overripe, enough natural pectin and acid to gel with added sugar only 1. That is why cranberry sauce sets when many berry jams will not. It is still fruit, sugar, acid, and concentration — not magic. See Pectin and Acidity.
Jam identity. 21 CFR 150.160 lists cranberry in Group II 2. Kitchen pectin class and the legal fruit-to-sugar ratio are different tables. Apple is another high-pectin neighbor on the Ohio Group I list.
What to notice. Bounce and sharp sour. A dull, soft cranberry is past the Group I promise. A gelled sauce in the refrigerator is not a canned jam unless you followed a tested process. Do not invent a water-bath time.
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- Also called
- cranberries
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Cited in this article
- Jams, Jellies, and Other Fruit Spreads (HYG-5350) — Treva Williams. Ohio State University Extension. 2015 — Culinary definitions of jam, jelly, preserves, marmalade; pectin/acid/sugar roles; sheet, temperature, and plate tests for doneness. Cites USDA Complete Guide and NCHFP.
- 21 CFR § 150.160 — Fruit preserves and jams — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (text via Cornell LII) — U.S. standard of identity. Group I fruit-to-sugar 47:55; other cases 45:55; finished soluble solids not less than 65 percent. Kitchen usage and this labeling standard are not the same thing.
Updated 2026-08-26. gg:ingredient:cranberry · CC BY 4.0
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