Eat Arkansas

When I was growing up we always had cranberry sauce out of a can. My Mom sliced it up to hide the can contours. No one ate it.

I know I am probably one of the weird ones, but I like the jellied cranberry sauce from the can. I know, i know, but it smells, tastes and sounds like the holidays of my youth. Yes, I was one that waited to hear the shlurp sound as it came out of the can. Plus, out of the can has an advantage, easy to recognize cut locations.

Over my lifespan, there's only one food I have never been able to stomach -- and that's pickled beets. There's just something in the taste that makes food want to return to the surface. Regular beets? I can swallow. I even sorta like beet chips (like potato chips). But no pickled beets.

As a kid, I couldn't separate the concept of pickled beets from canned cranberry sauce in my mind. Hence, I just couldn't eat it.

A couple of years ago I had a confection at a Christmas party that I haven't been able to locate since. It was a version of ambrosia, but instead of mandarin oranges and coconut it had slivered almonds and cranberries. It was divine! I figure one of these days I might be able to come up with that recipe, if I try hard enough.

My husband says the only good use for cranberries is cranberry juice, preferably within a drink containing Southern Comfort.

Hey I have pictures and whatnot, what's the email so I can get in on this reader submitted content business?

Melissa, you could send stuff to me at kat@tiedyetravels.com and I can post... or send them along to Max and the gang. Love that sorta stuff.

I follow my grandmother's time-honored recipe--grind the raw cranberries with oranges (cut in half and seeds removed) and sugar.

Tart, delicious, refreshing--and for days after Thanksgiving. It perks up the dry leftover turkey and ham, and I tell myself that the extra jolts of vitamin C are just what the body needs in these waning days of the year.

I think the recipe I end up using (which may have been my grandmother' source, since it matches hers) is in Fannie Farmer's cookbook. I have to hunt it back up each Thanksgiving, and I seem to recall that it's title is backwards in the index--like "Orange Cranberry Relish."

Don't grind to a mush. The sugar will melt in easily. And yes, whole oranges (peel and all) minus the seeds.

I'm a weird one, too. I like the Ocean Spray gelatinous stuff right of the can (and right out of my childhood).

The first time my Yankee in-laws came to Arkansas they weren't really sure what to think of the "cranberry sauce". I guess they don't have cans of it up there.

I never met a cranberry dish I didn't like. This includes the truly odd cranberry relish -- Susan Stamberg's mother-in-law's recipe--which includes among other things, horseradish.

(link)

I made it one Thanksgiving a few years ago and although most everyone politely put a little on their plates, that's mostly where it stayed until it went down the disposal. I was the only one out of a pretty large gathering who liked it.

I love beets any way you slice them, so to speak. And it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without green bean/cream of mushroom/onion ring casserole.

And you can't forget the marshmallow casserole with sweet potatoes on the bottom.

I'm with MuddlingThrough--raw cranberries, oranges and sugar all chopped up the day before Thanksgiving so it has plenty of time to get real juicy. Put in the refrigerator and stir it a few times while it sits. That tart goodness is the best to complement the heavy foods we all seem to fix to go with the turkey. Any leftovers can stay in the fridge and be used for weeks. It's great with pork, chicken etc. My mouth is watering thinking of it.

I like the canned jellied stuff...though I've advanced enough (ha) to occasionally go for the jellied stuff with whole berries. But I've also tried/liked different homemade recipes. Think I'll give orange/cranberry recipe a try this year...but alongside the canned jellied stuff. Like others have said...it's tied to years of Thanksgivings and taste buds stuck in the past.

As far as I'm concerned...cornbread dressing/gravy/cranberry sauce are Thanksgiving, food wise. Most of the other stuff just wastes stomach space.

For the past few years I have been making
"Mama Stanberg's Cranberry Relish" (recipe on NPR.ORG).
It's amazing!
Fresh cranberries
Sugar
Sour cream
and..
Horseradish.
It's hot pink, sweet and spicey!
Dee-lish!

Never Vote, you say, "That tart goodness is the best to complement the heavy foods we all seem to fix to go with the turkey. Any leftovers can stay in the fridge and be used for weeks. It's great with pork, chicken etc."

Absolutely! The cranberry-orange relish with raw cranberries revives those tired leftovers again and again. I love to eat it spread on bread with turkey on top, as a sandwich.

And I tell myself that, as winter nears, we all need a jolt of high vitamin C to keep well.