Go Back
Old-Fashioned Cranberry Salad with Grated Apple, Marshmallows and Whipped Cream

Cranberry Salad

This is the heirloom cranberry salad, built on raw fresh berries coarsely ground and left overnight with sugar until the juice runs deep magenta and the bitterness fades. Grated apple, orange, pineapple and mini marshmallows soften it further, and softly whipped unsweetened cream folded in at the last minute keeps it streaky and light. Tart, cold, crunchy with pecans, and nothing like cooked sauce.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 12 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 10 People
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Calories: 265
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 12 oz fresh whole cranberries picked over, or frozen and fully thawed
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 medium tart apple Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, peeled and coarsely grated
  • 1 medium navel orange zest finely grated, sections cut free of membrane and chopped
  • 8 oz crushed pineapple canned in juice, drained well
  • 2 cups mini marshmallows
  • 0.25 tsp salt
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream cold, whipped unsweetened
  • 0.75 cup pecans coarsely chopped, optional

Equipment

  • 1 Food processor or a hand-crank food grinder
  • 1 large glass or ceramic bowl non-reactive
  • 1 box grater
  • 1 fine mesh sieve for draining the pineapple
  • 1 Medium mixing bowl chilled, for the cream
  • 1 Rubber spatula

Method
 

  1. Rinse the cranberries and pick out any soft or shriveled berries. Drain them well and pat dry.
  2. Working in two batches so the bowl is not crowded, pulse the cranberries in a food processor 8 to 10 short pulses, scraping down once. Stop while the berries are still coarse, recognizable chunks. Do not let them turn to puree.
  3. Scrape the ground cranberries into a large non-reactive bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir well, pressing the mixture against the side of the bowl a few times to start the juice running.
  4. Cover and refrigerate overnight, at least 8 hours and up to 24. The sugar will draw out a pool of deep magenta juice and the raw bitterness will fade. Stir once if you happen to open the refrigerator.
  5. The next day, peel and coarsely grate the apple on the large holes of a box grater. Add it to the cranberries along with the orange zest and chopped orange sections.
  6. Press the crushed pineapple in a fine-mesh sieve to drain off the juice, then fold it in. Fold in the mini marshmallows.
  7. Cover and return the bowl to the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours. The marshmallows will swell and absorb the loose juice, and the salad will tighten up.
  8. Up to one hour before serving, whip the cold cream in a chilled bowl to soft peaks that just hold their shape. Leave it unsweetened. The salad is sweet enough.
  9. Fold the whipped cream into the cranberry mixture in three additions with a rubber spatula, using a light under-and-over motion. Stop while the salad is still streaky pink and white rather than uniformly pink.
  10. Fold in the chopped pecans if using, reserving a small handful for the top.
  11. Transfer to a serving bowl, scatter the reserved pecans over the surface, and refrigerate until serving. Serve cold, within the hour, as a side dish.

Notes

  • Serve it chilled alongside roast turkey or baked ham, with dinner rolls and the rest of the holiday plate. In the South it is often spooned onto crisp lettuce leaves.
  • The overnight rest is not optional. It is what tames the raw berries and sets the color. A same-day salad tastes harsh and watery.
  • Pulse the cranberries, never puree them. You want coarse chunks you can see.
  • Fold the whipped cream in no more than an hour before serving. Mixed in a day early, it weeps and turns a dull uniform pink.
  • Frozen cranberries work well. Thaw them fully and drain before grinding.
  • Leftovers keep 3 days covered in the refrigerator. The cream will slacken but the flavor deepens.
  • No food processor? Use a hand-crank food grinder on the coarse plate, the way it was originally done.