Cranberry sauce

History

Cranberry sauce is first mentioned as a companion to turkey in the 1796 edition of American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, the first known cookbook authored by an American.

In 1606, the Mi'kmaq people introduced the French settlers in Port-Royal, Nova Scotia, to cranberries. They would have been sweetened with maple sugar and served at the settlers first Thanksgiving in North America that year. The settlers described eating what they called "small red apples" in letters sent back to France. Port-Royal reports contained menus describing cranberries. They are still called pommes de prés, or , today in Acadia.

Although the Pilgrims may have been aware of the wild cranberries growing in the Massachusetts Bay area, it is unlikely that cranberry sauce would have been among the dishes served at the First Thanksgiving meal. Cranberries are not mentioned by any primary sources for the First Thanksgiving meal. The only foods mentioned are "Indian corn", wild turkey and waterfowl, and venison. The rest remains a matter of speculation among food historians. Although stuffings are not mentioned in primary sources, it was a common way to prepare birds for the table in the 17th century. According to a "Thanksgiving Primer" published by the Plimoth Plantation, cranberries may have been used in the stuffing recipes, but it is unlikely they would have been made into a sauce because sugar was very scarce.

Commercial cranberry sauce was invented by Marcus Urann – founder of the Ocean Spray cooperative – and first offered to consumers in North America in 1912 in Hanson, Massachusetts. Canned cranberry sauce appeared on the market in 1941, allowing the product to be sold year-round. Cranberry sauce can be used with a variety of meats, including turkey, pork, chicken, and ham.

Cranberry sauce is often eaten in conjunction with turkey for Christmas in the United Kingdom and Canada or Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada, and it is only rarely eaten or served in other contexts there.{{cite journal

Preparation

The most basic cranberry sauce consists of cranberries boiled in sugar water until the berries pop and the mixture thickens. Some recipes include other ingredients such as slivered almonds, orange juice, orange zest, ginger, maple syrup, ginger ale, port wine, or cinnamon.

File:Making cranberry sauce - stovetop.jpg | Preparing cranberry sauce at home Making cranberry sauce - in the jar.jpg | A home-made jar of cranberry sauce

Commercial cranberry sauce

Commercial cranberry sauce may be loose and uncondensed, or condensed or jellied and sweetened with various ingredients. The jellied form may be slipped out of a can onto a dish, and served sliced or intact for slicing at the table. Marcus Urann first commercially produced cranberry sauce in 1912, selling it locally in the Massachusetts market. In 1941, it was first marketed nationally in the USA by the agricultural cooperative that later became known as Ocean Spray, where Urann was president.

File:Cranberry sauce at Green Man pub, Takeley Street, Essex, England.jpg | Cranberry sauce served at restaurant File:Cranberry Sauce from can.jpg |Cranberry jelly from a can File:2019-11-28 14 21 51 A plate with canned cranberry sauce laid out for Thanksgiving Dinner in the Parkway Village section of Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.jpg |Cranberry jelly from a can, sliced

References

References

1. Pyenson, Andrea. (2010-11-24). "A tale of two side dishes". The Boston Globe.
2. Stamberg, Susan. (2022-11-18). "When turkey met cranberries — a dinner date from the 1700s". NPR.
3. "Smithsonian Magazine - Smithsonian".
4. "Beyond Cranberry Sauce". The Washington Post.
5. "History of Cranberries". Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association.
6. Morales, Christina. (November 17, 2022). "How Jellied Cranberry Sauce is Made". [[The New York Times]].
7. Smith, K. Annabelle. (27 November 2013). "This Man Made the First Canned Cranberry Sauce". Smithsonian magazine.
8. (27 November 2013). "This Man Made the First Canned Cranberry Sauce". [[Smithsonian Magazine]].