One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is that it's cranberry-sauce season. I love cranberry sauce, but for some reason, I prefer it in the November-December time frame and not during the rest of the year.
There is a rare occasion that I will have it at other times, but I don't go out of my way to eat it.
And I like the whole cranberries or cranberry pieces in my sauce. It just seems to be a little more tart than, let's say, the smooth jelly-like sauce. Nothing against the jelly-like sauce, it's just that it's not my favorite.
I noticed that the wife already has a can of whole cranberry sauce in the refrigerator. I'm tempted to open it, but I know I better not. It's for Thursday and me.
The daughter usually makes a homemade cranberry sauce with dried cranberries and nuts that I really like. It's terrific on the bite of turkey that I'm putting in my mouth. There's just something about turkey and cranberry sauce that is oh, so good.
Some of the grocery stores sell a cranberry relish-type sauce that can be pretty tasty. It's not the same as cranberry sauce, but it will do in a pinch.
My boss Kent Marts has an interesting cranberry sauce recipe, which is to smash the cranberries, let them soak in vodka for six hours, then drain the mixture, throw the cranberries away and drink the vodka right before you have the Thanksgiving dinner.
Not a bad idea, but then I would have wasted some perfectly good cranberries and used some vodka that I won't drink.
According to a story by Peggy Trowbridge Filiponne on the About Food website, "the Pilgrims learned all about cranberries from the Native Americans, who recognized the natural preservative power (benzoic acid) in the berries and often mixed them into pemmican (dried meat mixture) to extend its shelf life.
"Cranberry sauce came into the picture via General Ulysses S. Grant who ordered it served to the troops during the siege of Petersburg, Va., in 1864. Cranberry sauce was first commercially canned in 1912 by the Cape Cod Cranberry Company, which marketed the product as "Ocean Spray Cape Cod Cranberry Sauce." A merger with other growers evolved into the well-known Ocean Spray Corp. now famous for their cranberry products."
Speaking of Ocean Spray, it has not only the best-tasting cranberry sauce, but the commercials are the funniest ever. According to a Parade magazine article from 2013, the two actors are Henry Strozier, the older gentleman, and Justin Hagan, the younger man. They shoot their commercials in a working cranberry bog in Massachusetts.
So don't forget to have a little turkey with your cranberry sauce on Thursday.
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Throne is managing editor of The Weekly Vista.
Editorial on 11/25/2015