I once tried to make a cranberry sauce like the one I tasted on Long Island, but the one I made tasted differently (it was more sour). I guess I used less sugar that I should have done.
Do I wrongly recall, or do you use also lemon juice to prepare the American version of the cranberry sauce?
For 12 ounces of cranberries, use about 1 cup of sugar. You may like to use part brown sugar. Lemon juice, orange juice, or zest of either are welcome additions. There is no absolutely standard American version; like anything else, every cook has their own variation.
All fruits, including cranberries, will vary in sweet/tartness from crop to crop. Many variables will affect a crop, for instance, a drought will usually make smaller, sweeter fruits.
When cooking with fruits, always taste, then adjust the sugar to the sweetness you like.
