Like many of you, with less than a week before Thanksgiving, I am busy with last minute shopping and baking before the big feast! And, let’s face it many of you will be purchasing a can of cranberry sauce to accompany your meal, only out of tradition. Believe it or not, I never even knew canned cranberry sauce existed until I got married and my husband asked me what I was doing with 2 bags of fresh cranberries. When I told him I was making cranberry sauce, he just looked at me funny and said, “…that’s just silly, cranberry sauce is a gelatinous red goo that comes out of a can in a cylindrical shape and you slice it!” Let me tell you, on that first Thanksgiving we shared 22 years ago, he watched me transform those berries into my family’s traditional cranberry sauce, and he became a fresh cranberry sauce/salad convert on the spot!
What makes it so special? The cool and refreshingly tart, bright red sauce is enhanced with delectably sweet apples, pears, pineapple and bananas for flavor and texture, thus making it into a “salad”. It can be elevated even further with the additional crunch of walnuts or pecans. And, of course, love is the secret ingredient to all my recipes.
The basic “sauce” recipe has been a family tradition since I can remember…over the years, we’ve added the fresh fruit and nuts to make this one of the most anticipated dishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I even purchase extra cranberries and freeze them, so I can make it for Easter, too! It’s cool and refreshing, tart and sweet, all at the same time!
So, I encourage you to start a new tradition with this recipe – you and your family may become Fresh Cranberry Sauce converts, too!
Ingredients
- 2 bags fresh cranberries, washed and stems removed if necessary
- 2 seedless oranges, cut into chunks (do not peel)
- 2-3 C Sugar (to your taste...it depends on how much pucker you desire)
- 1 large can pineapple tidbits, drained
- 1 granny smith apple, diced
- 1 gala or yellow delicious apple, diced
- 1 red pear, diced
- 2 ripe bananas, sliced
- 3/4 C walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- in a food processor, chop the cranberries with oranges until combined. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may need to do a few batches.
- pour cranberry/orange mixture into a large mixing bowl
- stir in all ingredients except the banana and nuts
- cover bowl and refrigerate over-night.
- about an hour before serving the next day, stir mixture well (you'll notice it looks a little watery, this is because all of the fruit and juices have macerated with the sugar)
- stir in bananas and nuts
I like to use interesting serving vessels for the cranberry salad. One year, everyone received their own little jar, adorned with raffia ribbon, making the presentation extra special.
