The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes the biggest debate of them all…cranberry sauce. Some love the whole cranberry sauce, some say jelly is the way to go, and others just say “no thanks!” altogether. Everyone seems to have their preferences and is not willing to budge. In fact, in my experience, they tend to want to push their preference onto you.
No matter what type you prefer, there is bound to be some version on your table this holiday season. That got me wondering why cranberry sauce is such a staple at the holidays. Apparently, back in the early 1900s, cranberry grower Marcus Urann started selling canned cranberry sauce as a way to utilize damaged cranberries. Since then, cranberries are no longer a seasonal fruit and can be enjoyed year-round. If you enjoy them, that is!
All I know is that every year there is a big debate around the table about what type of cranberry sauce is best. My grandmother has a recipe for homemade, whole-berry cranberry sauce that she loves to make. To hear her tell it, it doesn’t take a huge amount of time, and the end results are well worth it. She will not eat anything but homemade, whole-cranberry sauce. Her son (my dad) is a completely different story. He wants nothing to do with whole cranberry sauce, homemade or otherwise. He wants a big helping of jelled cranberry sauce right from the can.
Each year, there is a lively discussion about which cranberry sauce wins out. Both sides refuse to give any ground to the other. It has never ended in a food fight, but the debate can get quite intense!
And then there are the rest of us. The non-cranberry lovers. I am firmly in this camp. I do not care for either one. Every year, both sides try to tell me that I need to try it just one more time. They think that this is the year that they will turn me into a cranberry convert. Each side wants to add one more to their number. It doesn’t work. I don’t even want to try it ever again. I am just not a cranberry person.
So, when you go to sit around the table this holiday season, what side are you on? Do you prefer whole cranberry sauce with ripe berries? Do you prefer the very sweet jelly variety? Or are you like me and sit there wondering, “What’s the deal with cranberries?”!
