• To a medium saucepan, add the orange juice and water. (It should be ¾ liquid.) Turn on the heat to medium or medium-high heat.
  ½ cup orange juice, ¼ cup water
• Bring this to a boil, then add the cranberries, the diced apple, and the sugar.
  12 ounces fresh cranberries, 1 cup sugar, 1 medium-sized apple
• Stir to combine, then reduce the heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes.
• As it simmers, the liquid should reduce, the apples will soften, and all of the cranberries will burst open. (Like shriveled raisins.)
• When the sauce is ready to strain, it should just about stick to your spoon as you stir.

To Make Jellied Sauce

• If you want to make THICK cranberry sauce, like the canned stuff, cook it until the liquid thickens enough to fully coat a spoon. If you pick the spoon up out of the pot, the sauce shouldn't drip much at all.
• Remove the pot of cooked cranberries from the hot stove and pour the mixture through a metal sieve over a heat-safe bowl.
• Use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to press the pulp through the sieve, swirling it around to press as much through as you can.
• Discard the cranberry skins, then transfer the strained contents to a WIDE MOUTH glass jar. (This will shape the sauce into that "canned" cranberry sauce shape.) If you don't want to do that, you can also just put it into a serving dish, just remember that it will set in that shape.
• Refrigerate for at least two hours - it thickens as it cools, so it will seem on the thin side until it sets.
• Be sure to allow the cranberry sauce to cool completely.
• Serve topped with a bit of orange zest.