Cranberry Sauce is a sauce made from fresh cranberries boiled in sugar water. This dish is very popular in North America especially during the Thanksgiving season. It is also popular in UK as a part of Christmas dinner. The Americans like this sauce sweetened while in UK it is preferred a little sour. The original cranberry sauce recipes are very simple. They are made with the basic ingredients like cranberries, sugar and water. However, there are many variations to this dish and it is also seasoned with almond, ginger, orange juice, cinnamon, maple syrup and zest. Gelatin may also be added to this sauce for thickening it. Another version of this sauce is also in a jellied or condensed form.
Cranberry Sauce Recipes: History
This dish has been associated with celebrations. It is native to North America where it was prepared at home and eaten with Turkey during the Thanksgiving season. However, the cranberry sauce is also eaten as a sandwich filling at present. It is commercially available in an uncondensed form too. Not just that, it is also available in jellied and condensed form in bottles or jars. The popularity of this sauce can be dated back to the 18th Century. General Ulysses S. Grant demanded that this sauce be served to the troops during the seige of Petersburg.
Traditionally, cranberry sauce was not popular. The fresh fruit was dried and powdered. It was used as a natural preservative to preserve meat. The first traces of sauce was found only in 1864. Commercially this sauce was available for the first time in 1912. It was prepared by a company called Cape Cod Cranberry Company.
Ingredients and Preparation Method of Cranberry Sauces
The cranberry sauce recipes may differ slightly depending on the country where it is made. The ingredients for a typical North American style recipe are a few fresh cranberries along with sugar, and water. The sugar is dissolved in water with the cranberries added to it and re-boiled until tender. The sauce is ready when it thickens after cooling. Addition of nutmeg, cinnamon, pecans, orange zest, raisins, currants and blueberries provide diverse flavors to the sauce.
Serving Style: Sauce of Cranberry
This dish can be served as a topping over cakes and pies. Although, its traditional serving style continues to be the same. It can also be used a topping for ice cream. This fruit sauce has a long shelf life and it can be preserved for several months in refrigerator.
Health and Nutritional Value of Cranberry Sauce
Cranberries have anti-oxidant properties and a good amount of Vitamin C. This dish is high in calories due to the sugar content. One bowl of this sauce would have around 400 calories.
Popular Variations: Cranberry Sauce Recipes
This dish has seen many variations and one such interesting version of this sauce includes apples. Since cranberries and apples contain pectin, they can easily be made into sauce. There is no need to add thickening agents since pectin does the job of firming the mixture. Other popular variation of cranberry sauce recipes include the use of honey instead of sugar and the use of nuts or dried fruits. Cranberry sauce makes a good combination with chocolate products.
Trivia
Cranberries are also called as ‘bounceberries’ since the ripe fruit bounces easily. Native Americas would call this fruit ‘ibimi’ and the tribes called it ‘sassamanash’. It may sound quite weird to know that there are 14 people in the US with their last name as ‘Cranberry’. Another interesting bit of information about this fruit is that, honeybees often pollinate cranberry crops.
Cranberries are mostly eaten in the form juice, sauce and jellied version. There isn’t much demand for fresh cranberry. Cranberries are the major commercial crop in some parts of America and Canada.
The use of cranberry juice can be traced back to 16th Century where it was consumed as a remedy for urinary tract infection.
