How to use pickled cranberries?

I went on a canning spree last summer (crazy pregnancy hormones) and now I've got several jars of pickled cranberries, cranberry chutney and pickled apples that I have no idea how to use. The pickled apples are not good eaten on their own - they have a very strong clove flavor. I also several jars of canned beets and pickled beets from my grandma that I don't know what to do with. Any ideas on how to use these up?

ktr
  • Posted by: ktr
  • June 14, 2016
  • 5866 views
  • 14 Comments

14 Comments

ck January 1, 2023
I happened on this site looking for unique ideas for uses of pickled cranberries too. Thanks for the suggestion about adding to mustard. I've been buying Dietz & Watson and Beaver Brand Cranberry Mustard and Cranberry Horseradish for a couple of years now and love them both. Now I'll just make my own for less. Thanks again. As I suggestion I will say that I used cranberry horseradish to smear on my holiday rib roast and then covered with the traditional spices before roasting. It was awesome! I had seen a recipe that called for using regular horseradish & doing the same thing. Today I'm starting a beef roast marinading to make sauerbraten later this week. Going to use less red wine in the marinade & adding a pint jar of my pickled cranberries. Expecting it to be fantastic! Keep experimenting with your canning and cooking! It's okay if some things don't work out as expected. :) Happy New Year!
 
Nancy June 16, 2016
In addition to several good suggestions already posted:

1) use the chutney as a garnish for curry dishes and rijstaffel (Dutch Indonesian rice buffet)
2) add one of your canned treasures to a Cole slaw or potato salad
3) use the canned beets to make beet pancakes. Serve with feta and a bitter green. Union Square Cafe has a great recipe I''ve made often.
4) make borscht (beet soup) by buzzing the canned beets in a processor. Can be a cold summer soup with sour cream or yogurt swirled in. Or a hot soup with beef.
5) use the beets, sliced thin, as a sandwich garnish on cold chicken, Turkey or beef.
6) use the cranberries in Sicilian recipes as a variation on raisins, often mixed with capers and pignoli...nice blend of sweet, salty, rich and nutty.
7) if you'all really don't want to eat beets and cranberries, give them to a community org for "bake sale" type event or pot luck supper.
Hope these ideas help.
 
HalfPint June 15, 2016
@ktr, pickled foods tend to be good with roast/grilled meats. The pickled cranberry sounds like it might be good with a pork roast or grilled pork chops, likewise the pickled apples. The chutney (if sweet enough) would probably taste good in a chicken salad. I would also suggest serving these condiments as part of a cheese course. They can be lovely paired with a strong cheese.
 
ktr June 15, 2016
Thank you!
 
HalfPint June 15, 2016
@ktr, I totally understand how canning can totally suck you in, even without pregnancy hormones. The recipe looks so intriguing and suddenly, you have 12 jars of brandied cherries that you have no idea what to do with.
 
AntoniaJames June 15, 2016
Pickled cranberries and pickled apples: Stir into a mostarda. https://food52.com/blog/8577-how-to-make-mostarda-without-a-recipe and
https://food52.com/recipes/27134-sour-cherry-and-cranberry-mostarda

Chop and stir into a sharp, prepared mustard, e.g., https://food52.com/recipes/6466-apple-mustard (Adjust liquid accordingly.)

Save until Thanksgiving and mix them with fresh, raw cranberries. (One of my favorite discoveries in recent years has been the application of a time-honored pie-making technique - stirring raw berries in with some cooked ones -- to cranberry sauce. E.g., https://food52.com/recipes/24974-breakthrough-cranberry-sauce-bay-leaves-optional-but-recommended

Stir the chutney into a good, sharp prepared mustard. Serve on a cheese board, or on any cheese sandwich.

Buzz the cranberries in a blender to use as the base of a vinaigrette. Use a touch of cider vinegar if necessary. Use it on fresh beets and salads made with red lettuce.

The possibilities are endless . . . .

(I'm a chronic binge canner who ends up with several dozen jars each year of items in need of repurposing.) ;o)
 
ktr June 15, 2016
Thank you!
The flavored mustard and cranberry vinaigrette especially sound wonderful!
 
dinner A. June 15, 2016
Hey cv, if you don't enjoy reading or responding to ktr's hotline posts, then don't. No need to write contemptous comments. ktr is being astoundingly good-humored in response.
 
702551 June 15, 2016
I gave her the best suggestion: to ask her grandma. After all, she got some of these things from her.

You'd think that someone her grandma's age who has been making and presumably using pickles for decades would have some idea what her own family members and relatives would enjoy especially in light of ktr's admittedly "strange food preferences" (sic).
 
ktr June 15, 2016
Thank you dinner at ten.

CV, if you find my questions difficult to answer, just don't answer them. There are many questions here that go unanswered and I will not be offended if mine do not get answered as well.
 
702551 June 14, 2016
Why don't you ask your grandma?
 
702551 June 14, 2016
Just as a clarification, I will point out that ktr apparently has many disputes with her own direct family about flavors and how to cook food, so I think a relative would be able to provide *WAY* better advice than random anonymous commenters at a cooking site like Food52.

Your personal tastes are completely baffling to me (I seem to agree with your husband more than you), so you may want to rethink whether or not you should be posting these questions here.

You appear to be motivated to cook things for your family, not just yourself, so you should really be asking those whom you will be feeding.

Anyhow, good luck.
 
ktr June 14, 2016
I tried asking my grandma about the beets but she just eats them out of the jar like a pickle. My husband doesn't like beets and I don't really enjoy them canned either. With the beets I'm really just trying to find a way to maybe disguise them so I don't end up tossing them.

And the cranberries were an experiment. Neither my husband or I grew up eating them in any form other than the occasional raisin or glass or cranberry juice, so I'm not really sure why I decided I "needed" to can them last year.

And, yes, I'll be the first to admit I do sometimes have strange food preferences. I make sure to save them for meals I'm eating alone!
 
702551 June 14, 2016
Well, if your family isn't keen on these pickled items, I suggest you try to dig down deep inside your own feelings and figure out situations where you might enjoy these items alone.

If you can't, toss them and consider it a lesson to be more judicious when you make things.

Perhaps more than any other regular Hotline poster, you are the one whose questions are the hardest to answer because of your strange preferences. After all, no matter what the group consensus opinion is here, if you don't agree (which is often), what does it matter what we suggest?
 
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