Photo by Maddie Oatman
Cranberry salsa—that’s salsa, not sauce—has been my Thanksgiving dinner contribution of the last few years. I gave up on the traditional stuff long ago, after too many Thanksgivings where the cranberry offering slides out of a can and plops into a bowl, maintaining its floppy cylindrical shape until someone mashes it into a gelatinous goo and sticks a spoon into it. I’d wager that secretly, only about a fourth of Thanksgiving eaters even like the stuff.
“Not so!” shouts Ian, my MoJo colleague from the next cube over. Ian hails from the fair hills of Connecticut. “In New England, cranberry sauce is an important marker of a good Thanksgiving,” he tells me, glaring at me for questioning what he sees as an essential holiday coulis.
But I say, why suck the life out of this tart, crimson New England bead, reducing it to an insipid mess of sugar and limp berries? According to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association, the cranberry is one of only three fruits native to North American soil, along with the Concord grape and the blueberry. It’s time to get to know the fruit in raw form, and salsa allows you to taste the tangy snap of fresh cranberries. In the recipe below, the cranberries’ tartness pairs well with the heat of ginger and chilis. Orange zest pulls it all together. So what if we’ve wandered off the traditionalist’s map? On a plate heavy with roasted, boiled, sautéed, and simmered vegetables, a bit of raw crunch is a welcome respite.
Cranberry Salsa
Recipe inspired in part by SHASH’s cranberry salsa recipe on AllRecipes.com
• 1 bag of fresh cranberries
• juice and zest of 1 orange
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 1-2 serrano peppers
• juice of 2 limes
• a pinch of salt
• 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
Directions: In a saucepan, heat sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and ginger with 1/4 cup water until the mixture reduces and turns syrupy. In the meantime, chop the cilantro and serranos. Combine chilis and cranberries in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer into a bowl, and add the ginger-orange syrup. Stir in cilantro, salt, and lime juice. Add a little more sugar and lime as needed; the salsa gets better after a couple of hours of soaking in its own juices. Eat with tortilla chips as an appetizer, or serve as a side dish.
