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It is always nice to have turkey on the table at Thanksgiving but without the mashed potatoes, stuffing and other side dishes, it would be severely lacking. One of those side dishes is typically canned cranberry sauce, but is anybody enjoying having it on the table? According to Instacart’s Turkey Day Exposé, the jellied cranberry sauce that finds its way onto the Thanksgiving table is one that most people could live without. The statistics show that ‘Nearly half of Americans (46%) say canned cranberry sauce is ‘disgusting’, according to the survey by The Harris Poll. Are you going to have canned cranberry sauce on your table this year?

What Is Canned Cranberry Sauce?

Photo: Wide Open Eats

Although canned cranberry sauce may come from many companies, it is Ocean Spray that provides the most popular and arguably the best option. Fresh cranberries have a limited shelf life so canned or jellied sauce came about in 1941 to extend the time that you could use them. Canned cranberry sauce is made from fresh cranberries, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and water. After combining the ingredients, the sauce is cooked and put into cans. Whole cranberries are sometimes added in the mix as well.

How Does Cranberry Sauce Keep Its Shape?

Photo: Flickr / Alexia

You might think that gelatin or a thickening agent is responsible for the cranberry sauce holding its shape but that isn’t true. As the berries cook, pectin is released. Pectin is a natural thickener. Most of the sauces will strain out the berries before the canning process takes place. If you are making a cranberry sauce recipe in your kitchen, you can always leave pieces of cranberry in the homemade sauce to add a little something to it.

How Do You Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce?

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If you just don’t like the canned stuff, it’s time to make your own using fresh or frozen cranberries. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons water, and orange zest to a medium saucepan with the cranberries and cook till the sugar dissolves and the berries are soft. Increase the heat and wait until the berries pop. At that point, you can remove the recipe from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. The only thing left at that point is to enjoy it on the table.