Happy December to everyone.

This week I was at a loss as to what we could discover about food-when I received an e-mail from Ocean Spray. Now honestly, I’m not one for canned cranberry sauce when you can buy a couple of bags of fresh and make your own whole version that is far tastier and healthier in a few minutes.

Really you can-even putting a bag through a few pulses in a processor and adding chopped celery, walnuts or pecans, some freshly chopped oranges and their zest with barely enough sugar or honey to taste provides a very different and tangy raw relish. Put the berries into a pot with some orange or apple juice and there’s another version. Add some chopped apples or pears to the mix before bringing the mixture to a boil and voila-yet other cooked versions. You could easily add the chopped apples/pears to the raw mix with a dash of lemon juice as well.

Dried cranberries make a great addition to the mundane chex or nut mix. For texture-try a very different turkey burger or even hamburger and add some chopped fresh cranberries to the patties.

Here are some facts on jellied cranberry sauce I bet you weren’t aware of:

There are 200 cranberries in a can of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce.

Jellied cranberry sauce (the log) is most preferred by consumers totaling 75% of overall cranberry sauce sales.

When the log was created in 1912:

- William Howard Taft was President of the United States

- The Red Sox won the World Series

- New Mexico and Arizona became states

- The Titanic sank

Some other ideas? Check out the Ocean Spray site for ham glaze, a fancy brie dip for parties, shrimp cocktail sauce and even a cranberry infused chocolate fudge cake.

The ideas are endless-

Love it

Member Comments

tuliplady
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  Tuliplady wrote Dec 4, 2011
- I love cranberries in any way shape or form EXCEPT cranberry relish. I keep cranberrries in the freezer year around and when I run out of cranberry sauce, I cook a few with just a little sugar. Keeps in the frig for quite awhile and it’s great on everything.
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irishree
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  Marie Hempsey wrote Dec 4, 2011
- I love making my own cranberry dishes for holidays. They are fun to experiment with. My kids used to like the canned stuff ( i used to use it when all 5 were under the age of 9 and i didnt know I could cook...lol) Once I found out I could cook...i kinda wents nuts and still am with food and cooking today!
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whatscooking
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  Carine Nadel wrote Dec 4, 2011
- for me, cooking is a way to be creative w/ a great purpose!
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chocolatier
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  Cynthia Schmidt wrote Dec 5, 2011
- A co-worker gave me some cranberry sauce she made and she added hot chilis to it - it was Delicious!!!! The sweet and hot combination was wonderful.
  
  Another little tidbit about cranberries - they are a true American fruit!
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neicy
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  Denise Richardson wrote Dec 5, 2011
- I love cranberry sauce and fav the Ocean Spray brand, thanks for the trivia and ideas on cranberry uses.
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carine
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  Carine Nadel wrote Dec 5, 2011
- ooh, I love the idea to use chili peppers. maybe add a bit of cocoa powder!
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