No-Cook Cranberry Relish Is a Bright Addition to Your Holiday Table (2024)

FAQs

Is cranberry sauce a Christmas dish? ›

Cranberry sauce or cranberry jam is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly served as a condiment or a side dish with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom and Canada.

To make-ahead: Cranberry relish can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. To freeze: Store cranberry relish in a freezer safe container for 2-3 months. To use, remove it from the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator.

The best part is that this cranberry relish recipe doesn't require any cooking! On the contrary, cranberry sauce is made with cranberries (and only sometimes oranges!), a variety of spices, a good amount of sweetener, and a thickener, which is then cooked and stewed over the heat until jelly-like.

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.

Besides the obvious turkey, one of the symbols of the holiday is the cranberry. For many, this means canned cranberry sauce. Cranberries are a fruit native to North America. Harvest is a short few weeks in the fall, but like most farmers, they are working the ground and crop year round.

An account from the American colonies in 1672 mentions the ways that both Native Americans and European settlers used cranberries, "boyling them with sugar for a sauce to eat with their meat." And one of cranberry's earliest documented appearances with turkey can be found in the 1796 cookbook American Cookery, where ...

Yes, you can freeze homemade cranberry sauce—and it works well. It's best to store it in the freezer for up to 3 months; the taste may be affected due to its water content if frozen longer. Keep this in mind when putting away your leftover sauce and use it during this optimal period as part of an easy weeknight dinner.

Try reducing the sauce down even further so more of the liquid cooks off and the mixture thickens. If that doesn't work, add a thickener like gelatin, pectin or a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch whisked into juice or water). Let the sauce cool before refrigerating to completely set.

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.

Why is cranberry sauce so expensive? ›

Costs are up

That includes cranberry sauce, whose price is up about 18% compared to last year because cranberry crops are smaller this year, sparking a supply squeeze.

"Resist adding granulated sugar—you won't get the full effect unless you reheat the sauce and the sugar dissolves," writes Kelsey Kloss. "Instead, start by stirring in one tablespoon maple syrup and one teaspoon of a sweet drink like apple juice, orange juice, or fruity white or red wine. Add more to taste.

Turkey is also eaten at Thanksgiving, as it is in the UK at Christmas, and it's likely this connection is the inspiration for cranberry sauce making the move to festive dinners this side of the Atlantic.

If cranberries were eaten, it was probably as a dish called pemmican–crushed cranberries and dried meat (yum!) Sugar was not widely available at the time so cranberry sauce, as we know it, was most likely not a part of the feast.

Glittery, ruby red cranberry sauce is an essential part of any Thanksgiving meal. Not only does its color shine among the browns and beiges of side dishes like stuffing and mashed potatoes, but its sweet-tart flavor offsets the richness of roasted turkey, macaroni and cheese, and buttery yams.

Cranberry sauce belong to 'Blueberries and other berries' food category.

Turkey. So the Christmas tradition of turkey with cranberry sauce has been borrowed from the North American thanksgiving combination of turkeys and cranberries.

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.)