Cranberry Fine Pairing

Cranberry Fine Pairing by Easton Reed for Cheese and Game

Cranberry Fine Pairing by Easton Reed is a fruit chutney made from cranberries with ginger and cinnamon. The tart berry remains at the forefront, apple concentrate rounds out the sweetness, and pectin gives the jar its firm, sliceable consistency.

Cranberry Fine Pairing is the cranberry chutney from Easton Reed in Augsburg, bottled in a 230-gram jar. Cranberries, at 43 percent, come in just after sugar, accompanied by apple concentrate, ginger, and cinnamon. Lemon juice concentrate keeps the color clear and the fruit fresh without the need for preservatives.

Tart berry with ginger and cinnamon

The chutney is deep red and so firm that a spoon will stand up in it, and you can see the pieces of berry with the naked eye. It is thus significantly firmer than a jam and can be scooped out in portions without anything dripping from the spoon or running on the plate.

The cranberry brings its own tartness, which differs very clearly from the soft tone of a marmalade. The sugar balances it without covering it up, and the apple concentrate adds fruit sweetness, so that in the end, both stand side by side.

The ginger provides an invigorating zest, while the cinnamon layers over it like a warm blanket, rounding off the edges of the berry. Tart, fruity, warmly spiced—that is how it tastes from start to finish, with the cinnamon lingering longest in the aftertaste.

Alongside blue cheese, turkey, and dark bread

A Fine Pairing is intended as an accompaniment to savory dishes rather than as a breakfast spread, even though it could serve as both. On a cheese platter, it stands alongside blue cheese, aged hard cheese, and Camembert, making every bite lighter without the cheese losing its character.

For turkey, game, and holiday roasts, it replaces the classic cranberry sauce while bringing more spice, and on crostini with cream cheese, it becomes an appetizer in two minutes. It also finds its place effortlessly with oven-roasted vegetables and roasted pumpkin, and in the days after the holidays, a spoonful of it will save any leftover meat sandwich.

It becomes milder and more summery with the Peach Chutney, and spicier with the Fig-Onion Sauce. Related accompaniments for cheese and roasts can be found on the chutneys shelf.

The cranberry needs sugar and spice

The cranberry is one of the few fruits that almost no one eats raw, and there is a very practical reason for this. Its sugar content is low, while its acidity and tannins are high; this mixture makes it extremely astringent in its raw state.

Only when cooked and sweetened does the berry show what it is capable of: a clear, upright fruit that can hold its own alongside strong flavors without being overpowered. Ginger and cinnamon are the classic accompaniments here because both provide warmth where the cranberry provides coolness.

Under the name Fine Pairing, Easton Reed carries this idea through several varieties, each given its own partner: cherry with red wine, blueberry with rosemary, peach with thyme. The line was developed by Ryan's Specialties in Augsburg, the company behind American Heritage. The Easton Reed assortment shows what we currently have in stock.