Christmas Cranberry Salad - A Family Tradition

     Christmas is my favorite holiday, it has been since I was a child and a lot of that is due to our many family traditions centered around Christmas. I am blessed to be in a family of great cooks from my great-great-aunts down to my cousins, grandmother and mother. We all enjoy cooking. The recipe I'm sharing today reminds me of the cranberry salad that my Aunt Mary Buford (Aunt Boogie) and cousin Jean made for years for our family Christmas. I never had their recipe but I found this very similar, recipe in the cookbook What's Cooking for the Holidays by Irene Hays (1984) many years ago and I continue to make it for our family at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I believe gelatin salads had to originate in the South, adding a cool refreshing salad to meals, but of course I could be wrong!
     I actually revised the recipe as it was listed on page 168 of the cookbook. The recipe calls for cherry gelatin and I use raspberry which is a little more tart in flavor than cherry. I also use pecans instead of walnuts.

Ingredients:
2 3-oz packages of raspberry jello
2 cups hot water
1 cup pineapple syrup (drained from crushed pineapple)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold water
1 orange,  zest peel, chop orange and remove seeds
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped cranberries (chop better if frozen)


Dissolve 2 3-oz. packages of raspberry gelatin in 2 cups of hot water. Then add pineapple syrup, lemon juice and 1 cup of sugar and stir until dissolved then add the 1/2 cup cold water, cover, and place in refrigerator to thicken. This usually takes about 40 minutes but of course that time will vary. During this time you can prepare the remaining ingredients.

     I have only used Ocean Spray cranberries primarily because they are the only cranberries I have found in our area grocery.

     I don't like using a food processor to chop the cranberries because it tends to chop too small. I use my pampered chef hand chopper and it is easy to chop the frozen cranberries.

     You can see it also works well to chop the pecans. You will also need to chop 1 cup celery and chop 1 orange.

     Watch the gelatin to make sure it doesn't get too thick before adding the remaining ingredients. You want it to begin to get thick but not be completely set. I add the pineapple, orange, celery, cranberries, then pecans, mixing it well, then pour into a crystal bowl and return to the refrigerator to set.

    

     The photograph above shows the finished product. This salad is great with turkey and country ham. It can be used as a relish and add to a sandwich of leftover turkey. I like to have a small bowl of this salad for breakfast also! I have shared this recipe with many people through the years and thought it was time to share on BarnScoop. Maybe this will begin a family tradition in your home or be a reminder of a dish served years ago. Merry Christmas!

All photos property of Wanda Quiggins