The reason we eat cranberry sauce with turkey is because of a tradition that started years ago.
Cranberries are native to North America and began being used by Natives and settlers alike for juice, eating and textile dyes.
Thing is, natural cranberries are quite tart and sugar wasn’t readily available back in the settlement days so they weren’t terribly appetizing to most people.
Along comes the Thanksgiving celebration and people go all out. Part of the “going all out” would likely have been offering the treat of cranberries sweetened with maple syrup, apples or honey.
Of course this would have been a treat reserved for special occasion and thus quite fitting for the Thanksgiving celebration.
As time went on, Ocean Spray produced the first canned cranberry jelly as a result of finding a way to market cranberries that could not otherwise be sold.
The convenience of inexpensive sugar sweetened canned cranberry sauce made it a regular staple of special holiday meals.
Cranberry Sauce does contain and have Gelatin in it.
The gelatin that cranberry sauce contains is a protein that is derived from animal bones.
Just like marshmallows, gummy bears etc all contain gelatin that has pork in it.
Jellied Cranberry Sauce can and will melt.
You can melt cranberry sauce to use as glaze.
Unopened canned jellied cranberry sauce will remain at it's best quality and best taste for up to 2 years, but the jellied cranberry sauce will remain safe to eat well past that and can even last as long as 10 years.
Once opened the jellied cranberry sauce will only last up to 14 days before it goes bad.
You must keep opened jellied or other cranberry sauce refrigerated if not using it within a few hours.
Homemade canned cranberry sauce that is canned in preserve jars will last for up to 5 years or even 10 years in some cases before it goes bad.
If you just have homemade cranberry sauce that is not in preserve jars then it will only last for up to 14 days in the refrigerator.
Canned Cranberry Sauce can go bad eventually but it would take at least 10 years or more before the canned cranberry sauce went bad.
The canning process of the canned cranberry sauce helps preserve it.
As long as the can of cranberry sauce is not open it will last for up to 10 years or more but once opened the canned cranberry sauce will only last for up to a week before it goes bad.
Once opened the cranberry sauce should remain refrigerated if not using it within a few hours to prevent mold and bacteria from growing on it.
I prefer to warm up the canned cranberry sauce before serving it or eating it.
I've eaten cranberry sauce cold before as well and it was okay.
I've also made cranberry sauce sandwiches by taking a few slices of bread and putting some cranberry sauce between them.
It made for a great sandwich.
Even eating the cranberry sauce right out of the can is good.
Some people warm up canned cranberry sauce and some people just serve the canned cranberry sauce cold or at room temperature right out of the can.
You can serve the canned cranberry sauce either way.
My mom would warm up canned cranberry sauce before she served it and my Grandma always served the canned cranberry sauce cold.
It's all up to you and is a personal preference.
If you prefer the canned cranberry sauce warm then warm it up but if not you can serve it cold or at room temperature.
Cranberry sauce is usually served cold or chilled.
But if you want to heat the cranberry sauce up you can do so.
I like my cranberry sauce heated up so that it's warm but not too hot as it tastes better than being chilled or served cold.
However I do sometimes like to make cranberry sauce sandwiches by placing cold cranberry sauce out of the can onto some bread and eat it that way.
But when you eat cranberry sauce for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner it's traditionally served cold or chilled but it's okay to eat it warmed up if that's the way you prefer it.