Thanksgiving Cranberry Pie Recipe ~ Vegan (2024)

FAQs

What is a substitute for cranberry sauce? ›

Cranberry sauce is a crucial component of the Thanksgiving table, where its tart, bright acidity cuts through all of the heavy turkey and gravy and stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Turkey is often dry, salty, and bland, which makes it the perfect partner for something sweet and moist. Cranberries are not overly sweet. Their tartness pairs well with the more bland-tasting turkey.

That first statement that 50% of all cranberries are eaten at Thanksgiving time is false. Americans eat more than 400 million pounds of cranberries every year, and 20 percent, not 50%, is consumed during the week of Thanksgiving. But that's still 80 million pounds. Is the cranberry native to North America?

While there are some editors who prefer homemade cranberry sauce, the canned variety also has quite a following. "There's something so beautifully perfect about the texture of canned cranberry sauce, and none of those homemade mess will ever compete," says Senior Digital Food Editor Kimberly Holland.

And deep down, they are not so different after all: Whole cranberry sauce indeed involves whole berries. Jellied cranberry sauce goes through much the same process, but it is heavily strained, removing elements of nature — skin, seeds — that would impede its perfect silken texture.

Cranberry sauce can be served either as a gooey liquid or as a solid jelly. The jellied version is solid enough to retain the shape of the container in which it's placed whereas the sauce version is much more fluid. The difference between the fluid sauce and the jelly versions comes down to pectin.

How Much Cranberry Sauce Do I Need Per Person? If you're making fresh cranberry sauce, plan on at least 1/4 cup per person—more if your family really likes cranberry sauce. I usually make about 1/2 cup per person and find I have plenty left over for a few days of slathering cranberry sauce over everything.

Is cranberry sauce supposed to be hot or cold? Either! Some prefer to have it served fresh and warm, straight out of the pot, while others need it completely cooled down to enjoy the flavours. Personally, we prefer cooled sauce.

But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.”

What are American's favorite Thanksgiving food? ›

Although turkey is tops across U.S. regions and ages, there's a slight generational divide. Americans 45 or older are especially likely to call turkey the best thing on the Thanksgiving table (39%), while younger adults who agree come in at 24%.

What's red and jiggly with ridges all over? Canned cranberry sauce, otherwise known as a highly polarizing American holiday tradition that divides Thanksgiving into two camps: Team Homemade and Team Canned. Collectively, Americans consume five million gallons of cranberry sauce during the holidays each year.

Historians generally agree that cranberries were part of the first Thanksgiving feast, but no one is quite sure how they were served. Cape Code Pequots and South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes called cranberries "ibimi," or bitter berry. Native Americans mixed cranberries with deer meat, known as pemmicana.

Thomas Jefferson was famously the only Founding Father and early president who refused to declare days of thanksgiving and fasting in the United States.

Potatoes. Whether mashed or roasted, white or sweet, potatoes had no place at the first Thanksgiving.

Because of their delicate and delicious flesh, apricots make a wonderful substitute for cranberries. Despite the fact that they are a different colour, they cook very much the same. Take advantage of apricots when making pies and dessert fillings.

Dried cranberries often add a sweet-tart contrast in savory salads and dishes. One can substitute them with fruits like dried apricots for sweetness or with tart black currants or raspberries. The chosen fruit should complement the other ingredients in the dish and align with the desired flavor profile.

Calling this dish a “sauce” is a bit of a misnomer, as cranberry sauce is actually a simple fruit jam. Cranberries are naturally high in pectin (a naturally occuring gel). When cranberries are cooked with sugar and acid (such as orange or lemon juice), the pectin is released and gels the fruit.

Cranberry sauce can be used with a variety of meats, including turkey, pork, chicken, and ham. Cranberry sauce is often eaten in conjunction with turkey for Christmas in the United Kingdom and Canada or Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada, and it is only rarely eaten or served in other contexts there.