Anyone who has ever had cranberry relish knows that it’s the perfect complement to a Thanksgiving meal. No, we’re not talking about the gelatinous glob of goop that comes out of cranberry sauce cans either. We’re talking about real, homemade cranberry relish.

This stuff is so good it’s the star of any holiday meal. That’s probably why someone took the time to create a food holiday dedicated to it. This food holiday is known as National Cranberry Relish Day, and it’s a day that’s celebrated right before Thanksgiving – on the 22nd of November.

The History Of National Cranberry Relish Day

Although we tried to find the origins of this holiday, our search proved fruitless. We just couldn’t uncover when or where this holiday was invented. Like most food holidays, it simply appeared one day on our calendars.

Whoever did invent it deserves our gratitude, however. This holiday is the perfect accompaniment to the holiday season. Now we can enjoy cranberry relish not only on Thanksgiving but also on this holiday. Just be sure that you buy and/or make enough relish to handle both days.

Cool Facts About Cranberries

Want and need some cool cranberry facts? We know you do, and that’s why we’ve decided to gather together everything we could find out about them and list them below. The following facts will give you something to talk about while you’re serving your cranberry relish on your turkey sandwiches or BBQ meatballs.

• Cranberries are one of the few fruits that are native to North America.
• Approximately 5% of each year’s cranberry crop is sold fresh. The rest is turned into either cranberry sauce or cranberry juice.
• Cranberries are made up of approximately 90% water.
• Cranberries contain small pockets of air that allow them to float when they’re placed in water.
• Cranberries are in season from October through December every year.
• Most historians believe that cranberries were a part of the first Thanksgiving feast.
• Cranberries have traditionally been used by sailors to prevent scurvy.
• Cranberry bogs consist of alternating layers of sand, peat, clay, and gravel. This provides the ideal environment for growing them.
• At one point in time, cranberries were harvested by hand.
• Nowadays, cranberry bogs are flooded to wet-harvest the berries.
• German and Dutch settlers thought the cranberry flower looked like cranes, so that’s what they started calling them. Eventually, the “e” at the end was dropped.
• The cranberry sauce that can be found in a can was invented by Marcus L. Uran in 1941.

Observing National Cranberry Relish Day

Whip up some cranberry relish and enjoy it on the side with your favorite meal. It doesn’t have to be a meal that features turkey and stuffing, after all, you’re going to get plenty of that when Thanksgiving rolls around.

No, we’ve found that cranberry relish goes well with just about anything – from poultry to meatloaf. And while you’re enjoying this relish, be sure to use the hashtag #CranberryRelishDay to spread the word about it online.