Keep stirring until you can count slowly to five without hearing another cranberry pop open. Use the candy thermometer to determine the temperature of the cranberry mixture. If the temperature is below 100°C, continue stirring and monitoring the temperature. From this point on, the cranberry mixture will need to be stirred almost continuously.
Note: Depending on your stove, you may need to turn the heat up to high in order to reach the 100°C mark.
Note: At sea level, the boiling point of water is 100°C, but if you live at a higher elevation, water boils at a lower temperature. For example, in Denver, Colorado, the elevation is about one mile and water boils at about 95°C. For this reason, if you live at a high elevation your cranberry mixture might not reach 100°C, and you should aim for a slightly lower temperature, such as 95°C.
Once the temperature of the cranberry mixture reaches 100°C (or a slightly lower temperature if you live at a high elevation), start timing. After 3 minutes, scoop out one ladle full of cranberry mixture and carefully pour it in a ramekin, as shown in Figure 3, below. Specifically pour the mixture into the ramekin labeled 3 minutes. Write down your observations of the consistency of the sauce in a data table, like Table 1, below, in your lab notebook. Also note the appearance of the cranberries; are they mostly whole, completely unrecognizable from the rest of the sauce, or somewhere in between? You might want to take photos of each sample to put on your Science Fair Project Display Boards.