I emailed my mother to get her cranberry relish recipe, the one my husband and I descend on like a pair of hungry fruit bats each year. She emailed me the recipe, but what she sent didn’t quite match my memory of the dish because I thought it had apples in it. By the time I got the recipe, she and my dad were on the road to Texas, to visit my sister. And though my parents finally broke down and bought a pre-paid cell phone, they rarely turn it on, so I was stuck.
I decided to make it with the apples, just because I couldn’t see what it would hurt. My mom said to prepare this a couple of days ahead of time because it gets better over time, so I made it this afternoon. Wow! I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep our hands off of it until Thursday. I suppose that relish was traditionally meant to complement the turkey (or add flavor to it if you ask me, not a turkey lover even in my omnivore days). But to me it makes a great side dish. Or even a dessert. I can just imagine it over some vanilla soy ice cream. Mmmm. Stop me before I descend on the fridge!
Probably the Brown Family’s Cranberry Relish Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 1 organic navel orange, scrubbed and cut into 8 pieces
- 2 apples, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
- 1/4 to 1 cup natural sugar
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Wash the cranberries and remove any stems, bad cranberries, or inedible stuff you find. Put half of the cranberries, orange (unpeeled), and apple into the food processor and pulse to chop coarsely. Some larger pieces are okay, but nothing big enough to choke on. Pour into a bowl and process the other half of the fruit. Put it into a bowl, add the sugar to taste, and mix in the pecans. Refrigerate it for a day or two to allow the flavors to develop. Quick! If you start now, it’ll be ready by Thanksgiving.
Notes
Update to the story: After I posted this, my father let me know that they never put apples in it because they like to freeze the leftovers and were not sure that the apples would freeze well. So feel free to leave out the apples, though I think they add sweetness and allow me to cut down on the amount of sugar I use.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s) | Cooking time: 1 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/8 of recipe, with 1/4 cup sugar): 89 calories, 28 calories from fat, 3.4g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, <1mg sodium, 94.1mg potassium, 15.7g carbohydrates, 2.2g fiber, 12g sugar, <1g protein, 1.6 points.
Speaking of Thanksgiving–if you’re looking for more vegan Thanksgiving recipes, check out my master list of Thanksgiving recipes! There’s everything from main dishes (like Thanksgiving Loaf) to side dishes (like Green Bean Casserole) to desserts (like Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake).
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Just wanted to chime in and say this will be the third Thanksgiving that your family's relish will be on our table. We just love it. The first two years I served it alongside with the usual cooked relish, as I knew some members might not like raw and some wouldn't like orange. This year, we don't care who doesn't like it and this is the only one on the table. My batches make a generous two pints, and I just ate the amount that didn't fit it the jars on top of Greek yogurt. Truly amazing flavors, even when freshly made. Thanks so much for contributing to our family traditions!
I made this for Thanksgiving. It was a perfect cranberry relish. It was so good that I ate it by itself as a salad. Yummy!
Been making a relish that is virtually the same for years. We use a can of frozen apple juice as sweetener, tangerines and whatever apples are on hand. I tend to try to forage for fruits for the holiday meals and happen to have a tangerine tree. This year I will add persimmons to the mix too!. In any case, I also use agar agar to make it thicker- we get long strings of it from an oriental food market- cut up and melted in the warm “stew”, it thickens up very nicely. EXPERIMENT and make your’s one of a kind!
I made this on Monday for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday….it was great! So much better than boiled cranberry sauce. I would probably use a small orange next time, but otherwise it was perfect. I used 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar and after a few days in the fridge, it was plenty sweet. Thanks for a great recipe!
I just wanted to say I made this recipe for Christmas and it was absolutely delicious. I never thought I liked cranberry relish before I made this. I used 1/2 cup sugar. What a great way to use the bounty of Cranberries we have in Oregon! I will be using this recipe every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanks for the recipe!
This looks so good! Do you think date paste would be an okay substitute for the sugar?
Yes, I think it’s worth a try.
i am nervous about uncooked… won’t the cranberries be too sour? is there a way to find sweeter cranberries? the one time i made a cranberry sauce it was cooked in sugar but so incredibly sour.
also will the apples go brown / look yucky if i make this two days early?
The orange helps keep the apples from going bad. I’ve kept it for several days and haven’t noticed any change. And the cranberries are tart, but the added sugar can be adjusted to taste so that it can be quite sweet if you want it to be.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I just made it and put it in the fridge. Although I peeled off the orange skin because I was afraid to leave it on
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