When I was a kid, whenever Mom said we were having cranberries with dinner, that meant the molded, gelatinous stuff from a can, served in round, precise slices. It wasn’t until I finally left home, and discovered fresh cranberries, that I truly understood just how far that wiggling pile of slices was from real food. Fresh cranberries were a revelation. They’re deliciously tart and easy to work with, and combine beautifully with other fruits and nuts in fall salads.

Why You Should Eat More Fresh Cranberries

• Cranberries are a good source of vitamins C and K.
• A cup of fresh cranberries provides about 30% of the daily requirement of dietary fiber.
• There are only 45 calories in a cup of fresh cranberries.
• Cranberries have more antioxidants than just about any other fruit or vegetable.

Don’t Use Dried Cranberries!

Dried cranberries are often processed with either sugar or fruit juice, to produce a very sweet, sugary treat. While some dried fruits can be rehydrated by soaking in water, to produce an acceptable substitute for fresh, this is not the case with cranberries. Dried cranberries are simply not a good substitute for fresh cranberries in most recipes.

Chopped Cranberry Salad Recipe

In this recipe, the tartness of cranberries is combined with sweet apples and raisins, and your choice of walnuts, pecans or almonds. The resulting salad is rich and fruity without being too sweet.

If you prefer more sweetness to your salad, or if you wish to omit the raisins, you can add agave nectar to taste. Likewise, you can omit the nuts if they’re not to your taste. This is a very flexible recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
• 1 cup walnuts, pecans or almonds
• 1 sweet apple, large
• 1 orange, large
• 1 cup raisins

You’ll also need a large bowl, a mixing spoon, and a food processor, or a blender that has a chopping option.

1. Place the nuts into a food processor, and chop them into small pieces. Pour them into large bowl.
2. Cut the apple into chunks, removing the core, but not the peel. Place the apple chunks in a food processor, and chop them into small pieces. Pour the apple pieces into the bowl.
3. Peel the orange, removing as much of the white pith as possible. break it into sections, and place them in the food processor. Puree the orange into juice with pulp. Pour the puree into the bowl.
4. Pour the cranberries into the food processor, and chop them coarsely. Mine are usually frozen, so this just takes a few pulses. If you’re using a fresh bag that hasn’t been frozen, one or two pulses should do the trick.
5. Pour the raisins into the bowl. Mix everything well with a large spoon.
6. Cover the salad, and refrigerate for two hours, to allow the raisins to absorb the orange juice. Do a taste test before serving, and add agave nectar to sweeten if desired.

Tips

• Be sure to use sweet apples, like Fuji or Gala, rather than tart ones. You’ll need the sweetness to balance the tartness of the cranberries.
• Fresh cranberries are usually available in the fall, but can be hard to find from Christmas through Halloween. I usually buy a few extra bags each time I go shopping in the fall, and store them in the freezer to use later in the year. Like blueberries and strawberries, they require no preparation before freezing.
• Although it stores for several days refrigerated in a covered container, this salad is best when served the same day it’s made. The juices from the fruits make the nuts soggy when stored for more than a day or so, and the soaked nuts impart a bit of a bitter flavor to the salad. If you want to make this salad a day or two ahead, leave the nuts out until a few hours before serving.