Holiday Cranberry Salsa - My Recipe Treasures (2024)

FAQs

Why do people eat cranberry sauce with turkey? ›

Turkey is often dry, salty, and bland, which makes it the perfect partner for something sweet and moist. Cranberries are not overly sweet. Their tartness pairs well with the more bland-tasting turkey.

Cranberry sauce is a crucial component of the Thanksgiving table, where its tart, bright acidity cuts through all of the heavy turkey and gravy and stuffing and mashed potatoes.

According to a "Thanksgiving Primer" published by the Plimoth Plantation, cranberries may have been used in the stuffing recipes, but it is unlikely they would have been made into a sauce because sugar was very scarce. Cranberry sauce was first offered to consumers in North America in 1912 in Hanson, Massachusetts.

If the Pilgrims and the Native Americans ate cranberries at that festival, it was probably in the form of pemmican, a dish of crushed cranberries and dried meat. In the years that followed, the dish evolved and it wasn't long before cranberries became a popular ingredient among the settlers.

Packed with antioxidants

The anthocyanins found in cranberries may have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects. They may also: Protect against liver disease. Lower blood pressure.

Health Benefits

Cranberries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as the metabolism-boosting mineral manganese. And yes, you reap all these benefits whether the cranberry sauce on your holiday table is homemade or canned, jellied or whole-berry.

But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.”

Cranberry sauce is best served at room temperature or slightly chilled. (You've got enough things on the menu to warm up! Don't make the list longer!) I tend to make cranberry sauce a few days before Thanksgiving and then set it on the table about an hour or two before we plan to eat.

The Pilgrims might have been familiar with cranberries by the first Thanksgiving, but they wouldn't have made sauces and relishes with the tart orbs. That's because the sacks of sugar that traveled across the Atlantic on the Mayflower were nearly or fully depleted by November 1621.

Cranberry Sauce Is Perfect with Thanksgiving Turkey

Cranberries are absolutely perfect with turkey. Sort of like lemons and chicken. Something about the flavors, they're just made for each other. Which is why the sauce is so good to spread over turkey in your leftover turkey sandwiches.

Do you warm up cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving? ›

It's perfectly fine to serve up cranberry sauce — whole berry or jelled — straight out of the can. But in my experience, heating the canned sauce up takes its flavor to the next level. Plus, it becomes a little more aesthetically pleasing.

Collectively, Americans consume five million gallons of cranberry sauce during the holidays each year. This side dish has become essential to Thanksgiving menus, whether you opt to buy it (as 76% of Americans do) or make it yourself.

Americans put away some 400 million pounds of cranberries each year. About 80 million pounds — or 20 percent — are gobbled up during Thanksgiving week. There are 200 cranberries used in every can of cranberry sauce, 440 cranberries in a one-pound bag and 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of juice.

The Pilgrims gave this fruit the name "crane berry" because its pink blossom reminded them of the head of a crane, a large wading bird. Over the years its name has been shortened to cranberry.

What is America's favorite Thanksgiving side? Mashed potatoes took home the top spot for this year's favorite side. The top five most popular holiday side dishes include: Mashed potatoes.

And no turkey would be complete without a companion of tangy-sweet cranberry sauce. We're making ours from tart fresh cranberries quickly cooked with a little shallot, vinegar and sugar. (Chefs, be sure to choose a sheet pan with higher sides for your turkey—you'll be adding water to keep it juicy in the oven.)

Cranberries are absolutely perfect with turkey. Sort of like lemons and chicken. Something about the flavors, they're just made for each other. Which is why the sauce is so good to spread over turkey in your leftover turkey sandwiches.

Cranberry sauce isn't just for Christmas. It's the third most popular fruit sauce in the UK after mint and apple sauce and it's perfect with a Christmas dinner. The tannins in the cranberry skin bind with protein and fats in turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, making for a balanced and sweet combination.

In Amelia Simmons's 1796 tome, American Cookery, she suggests serving roast turkey with “boiled onions and cranberry sauce.” (As an alternative, the Post notes, she proposed pickled mangoes.) But it did not become a requirement of Thanksgiving dinners until General Ulysses S.