Grandma's Famous Cranberry Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can I substitute frozen cranberries for fresh? ›

Yes! Fresh cranberries freeze for up to a year and can often be substituted in recipes that call for fresh cranberries. When cooking with frozen cranberries, do not thaw before using.

Dried cherries and raisins are the most common substitutes for dried cranberries. They offer a similar chewy texture, making them suitable for baked goods and salads where a bit of chewiness is desirable.

Another Good Substitute: Lingonberries

They are more like a cranberry cousin with the same genus, Vaccinium while redcurrants come from the Ribes family. Because they have a similar flavour to cranberries, they are perfect to substitute in their place in something like cranberry sauce or even a cranberry jam recipe.

Consider a chutney with fresh and dried fruit, a tangy citrus marmalade, and even bacon-onion "jam." The recipes we've gathered are sweet and tart or savory and aromatic, they include the spices, nuts, and deep flavors we associate with autumn and winter, so you won't miss the cranberries one bit.

Cranberries provide a good source of various vitamins and antioxidants. Historically, Native Americans used cranberries as a treatment for bladder and kidney diseases, while early settlers from England used them to treat poor appetite, stomach complaints, blood disorders, and scurvy.

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

The best Ambrosia Salad recipe is made with pineapple, mandarin oranges, yogurt, mini marshmallows, coconut and whipped cream. This easy side dish has a delicious tropical sweetness and is always a crowd favorite!

"Cranberries are safe to eat raw. However, usually they are cooked and have sugar added because of the bitter and sharp taste they have when raw," says Kelly West Keyser, a registered dietitian in Alabama.

Some simple ways to use frozen cranberries include: Blend into smoothies. Make your own cranberry sauce (and then see our post regarding cranberry sauce uses) Make sweet or savory salsa.

If you thaw the frozen cranberries, they will be pretty mushy. But in almost every recipe in which I have ever used frozen cranberries, I have never needed to thaw them before using them.

Dried cranberries may be marketed as craisins due to the similarity in appearance with raisins, although the word "Craisin" is a registered trademark of Ocean Spray. Craisins were introduced as part of a packaged cereal produced by Ralston Purina in 1989.

Which is healthier raisins or Craisins? ›

Our Pick: Raisins

In this nutrition faceoff, raisins win because they offer a high amount of potassium and have no sugar added. Practically speaking, both raisins and dried cranberries can be part of a diet consisting of minimally processed foods.

Cranberries Have Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties. Like other berries, cranberries are antioxidant powerhouses. Per a study published in 2022 in Molecules, cranberries are a rich source of antioxidants.

Most cranberries come from Wisconsin and Massachusetts

Just five states grow almost all of the country's supply of the tart berries: Wisconsin produces more than half of all cranberries in the United States, Massachusetts harvests another third, and New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington produce much of the rest.

You can also look for recipes calling for fresh blueberries and use cranberries instead. Since they're similar in size, fresh blueberries and cranberries can be substituted one-for-one. If your cranberries are on the larger size, we'd cut them in half or quarters before baking.

Many foods are similar nutritionally to cranberry, including apricot, squash, nectarine and raspberries. Other similar foods include shallot, peach and tomato.

The major variation you're likely to come across is "whole berry" versus "jellied." The only difference between them is that the jellied sauce is cooked until the berries have completely broken down. They both slide out of the can as a wobbly red cylinder.

According to Wick, the tart fruit became popularly used to create cranberry sauce for turkey and other types of meat in the late 17th century. Within a hundred more years, cranberry sauce became a staple dish in the U.S., with its popularity taking off even more throughout the 19th century.

Put your dried fruit in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let it steep for 10 to 15 minutes, and then strain the fruit and discard the water. The fruit will be plumper, juicier, and softer. To give your fruit some extra flavor, swap the water for fruit juice or a liquor, like rum, bourbon, or brandy.

Yes, Craisins® Sweetened Dried Cranberries work well in baked goods; however, there is a 1/4 cup (60 mL) difference in measurement. If a recipe calls for one cup of fresh cranberries you should use 3/4 cup (175 mL) of Craisins®.

Avoid cranberries that look bruised or shriveled. Before use, rinse fresh or frozen cranberries and discard any that are damaged. It is not necessary to rinse before freezing, and there is also no need to clean dried cranberries.

What are the main ingredients in cranberries? ›

2.1. Nutritionals. Raw, unsweetened American cranberries contain mainly 87% water and 12% carbohydrates, with lesser amounts of protein, fats and fiber (Table 1) [11]. Small cranberries accrue 2.1–4.9% titrable acidity with citric acid contributing 1.8–2.6%.

Cranberries are primarily composed of carbs and fiber ( 1 ). These are mainly simple sugars, such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose ( 2 ). The rest is made up of insoluble fiber — such as pectin, cellulose, and hemicellulose — which pass through your gut almost intact. Cranberries also contain soluble fiber.

Cranberries are a native North American fruit and a Thanksgiving staple for many families. Cranberries are potent sources of antioxidants, specifically from a subclass of flavonoids called proanthocyanidins, which are unique to and abundant in cranberries.