Ode to Mom’s Cranberry Sauce

You know what’s my favorite part about the holidays?

Cranberry sauce.

Okay, well, it’s not my absolute favorite thing. But it’s definitely in the top five.
I always liked less-sweet foods like citrus and cranberries. My mom claimed I used to suck on lemon slices as a young child, and I’ve liked cranberry juice ever since I can remember. So it makes perfect sense why I love cranberry sauce, especially my mom’s.

Celene’s cranberry sauce is well known and widely asked for among family and my dad’s coworkers. It’s kind of silly, considering how simple it is.

It’s just fresh cranberries, orange juice, sugar and freshly grated ginger.

Okay, so here’s the deal from what I can remember. Each bag of fresh cranberries comes with a recipe for cranberry sauce on the back. Mom stays pretty close to that recipe.

She replaces the water with orange juice and cuts the sugar down by one-fourth. Then she adds ginger to taste, but we like ours pretty gingery.

I can’t express to you how miraculous this sauce is. It’s requested at every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I eat it as a snack. 

I smear it on sandwiches, eat it with crackers, or just spoon it into my mouth. There are so many different things going on when I eat it.

I taste the tartness of the berries, bursting in every corner of my mouth. The orange juice rounds out the taste and keeps the tart flavor without making it too harsh. And the ginger adds a nice kick that will wake you right up.

Essentially, this is a variation off of the current cranberry sauce trend. People really seem to like the combination of cranberries and orange, especially for cranberry sauce. It’s a nice change of pace from the traditional canned sauce, not that there’s anything wrong with it.

By sticking with the orange juice, you keep the typical cranberry sauce recipe. If you want to add the same flavor but change the texture, you can add actual orange — I know a lot of people like using orange rind in their sauces.

Other people like to change it up with other spices as well. Cinnamon and clove balance well with the citrus-cranberry flavor if used in the right amounts. Don’t forget that there can be too much of a good thing, so don’t drown out the other flavors.
Though, to be quite honest, I’d much rather take my mom’s cranberry sauce at the end of the day.

What can I say? I grew up with it. I eat it when I’m sick — I swear it will cure any common cold you have.

Plus, since it looks like I’ll be in Orlando from May to January, chances are I won’t be home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas next year.

It’s sad and scary to think about, to not be home for the holidays. I always associated this time of year with being with the ones you love. Granted, one day I’ll have my own family, but it’s difficult to imagine taking that first step as soon as next year.

But no matter what, I can always rely on my mom’s brilliant cranberry sauce — really, it’s nothing short of extraordinary — to make me feel good and remind me that there’s no place like home for the holidays.


E-mail: lm35@indiana.edu