How long is canned cranberry sauce good for after the expiration date?

As long as an unopened can of cranberry sauce is stored in a consistently cool pantry, it'll keep and taste good for at least a year beyond the date stamped on the can. (That date is the manufacturer's estimate of how long the cranberry sauce will remain at peak quality and is not a safety-related expiration date.)

Is it OK to eat a can of cranberry sauce?

It's perfectly fine to serve up cranberry sauce — whole berry or jelled — straight out of the can . But in my experience, heating the canned sauce up takes its flavor to the next level. Plus, it becomes a little more aesthetically pleasing.

How many ridges are there on a 14 oz can of Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce?

17 — Ridges on a 14-ounce can of Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce.

How long are canned goods good for after the expiration date?

Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling). Packaged foods (cereal, pasta, cookies) will be safe past the 'best by' date, although they may eventually become stale or develop an off flavor.

Can you use canned sauce after expiration date?

Whether it's a can of soup or a forgotten can of cranberry sauce, you might be tempted to throw them away. Not so fast! According to the USDA, shelf-stable foods are safe to eat indefinitely and you can eat them well past their expiration date .

Is cranberry sauce good for your kidneys?

4. Cranberries. Cranberries are low in potassium and high in vitamin C, making them another great choice for people with kidney disease . Cranberry juice has also been shown to help prevent urinary tract infections, which are typical for people with kidney disease.

What does cranberry sauce do for your body?

Packed with antioxidants Cranberries are well known for being rich in antioxidants. One study found that among 20 common fruits, cranberries have the highest level of phenols, a type of antioxidant. The anthocyanins found in cranberries may have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects .

Does jellied cranberry help diabetes?

Cranberries may reduce insulin resistance Several lab, animal, and human studies on people with diabetes and insulin resistance have found that cranberries have a beneficial effect on insulin and blood sugar.

How long can you use after the expiration date?

Sell-By Date: Refers to the last day a retailer can display a product for sale; typically a food is safe to eat for 10 days after the Sell-by Date if refrigerated properly. Use-By Date: Refers to the last day a product will maintain its optimum freshness, flavor, and texture.

Is it safe to eat out of date jar sauce?

Expiration dates printed on the condiment bottles are really meant to tell you when the product is at its peak quality, Sabat says. Expired sauces, spreads, and dressings will likely lose their flavor over time, and, worst-case scenario, could make you sick .

How long is cranberry juice good for after the expiration date?

The Google consensus is that it's SAFE to drink even AFTER 12-24 MONTHS past any printed date on the bottle. THIS APPLIES ONLY TO UNOPENED BOTTLES OF CRANBERRY JUICE. If opened, the juice should be refrigerated and used within 2 weeks.

What to do with expired canned goods?

If the can looks fine but you're still uncomfortable with it being past the "best by" date, donate it to a food pantry . Many food pantries accept — or will properly dispose of — expired goods. To avoid getting into a tricky situation in the first place, implement the first in, first out rule.

All About Canned Cranberry Sauce: the Good, the Bad, and the Jelly (2024)

On Thanksgiving Day, football fans root for opposing teams on TV, and political arguments break out at the table, but the most intense rivalry happens in the kitchen: homemade vs. canned cranberry sauce. There's even more controversy within the can-fan community: whole-berry vs. jellied. With this in mind, here are answers to all your canned cranberry sauce questions.

How It Started

The reason cranberry sauce goes so well with Thanksgiving dinner has everything to do with tannins. Located in the cranberry's skin, tannins bind with protein and fats—such as turkey, gravy, and buttery mashed potatoes—much the way a tannin-forward red wine, like Chianti, pairs with a fatty steak. But where did this tradition begin?

The first commercial cranberry sauce was canned in 1912 by Marcus L. Urann, a Massachusetts lawyer who left his career to run a cranberry bog. Around the same time, Elizabeth Lee, a New Jersey cranberry grower, was also boiling her berries to make a jelly-like sauce.

By 1930, Urann and Lee combined efforts, along with banker John C. Makepeace, also of Massachusetts, to form a cranberry growers cooperative named Ocean Spray. The fledgling cooperative added more growers, marketed "cranberry juice co*cktail," and, by the early 1940s, perfected the recipe for jellied cranberry sauce in a can, today's holiday staple.

Ingredients

Cranberries' tartness comes from their high concentration of acid. In fact, cranberry juice has the same pH as lemon juice so, for cranberry sauce to be palatable, it needs a fair amount of sugar (or other sweetener).

The list of ingredients on a can of cranberry sauce typically includes:

Cranberries
Corn syrup (sometimes high fructose)
Water
Citric acid (a preservative)

"Wait, canned cranberry sauce has no pectin or gelatin?" you may be wondering. "Then how do you explain its gelatinous consistency?" Interestingly, cranberries' naturally high pectin content is responsible for the canned sauce's Jell-O-like texture, making the addition of pectin or gelatin unnecessary.

Health Benefits

Cranberries may be small, but they loom large among antioxidant-rich foods, outranking nearly every fruit and vegetable, second only to blueberries. Cranberries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as the metabolism-boosting mineral manganese. And yes, you reap all these benefits whether the cranberry sauce on your holiday table is homemade or canned, jellied or whole-berry.

How to Get Jellied Cranberry Sauce Out of a Can

Serving the whole-berry sauce from a can is as easy and unceremonious as plopping contents into a serving bowl. For many proponents of jellied cran-in-a-can, the best part is jiggling out a perfect cylinder of red gelatin ribbed with imprinted can lines. Part of getting this magic trick right is designed right into the can, which is labeled upside-down.

Yes! Check the label of your jellied cranberry sauce can, and you'll notice its rounded end is at the top, and the straight-edged end of the can (the end you use a can opener on) is at the bottom, the opposite configuration of most cans. This way, the air pocket inside the can is at the rounded end, which makes it easier to get the sauce out.

Follow these steps for a perfect can-shaped jellied cranberry presentation:

Open with a can opener, usually at the bottom of the can (according to the label).
Hover the can at an angle over a serving plate, open-end down.
Slide a butter knife around the inside of the can to ensure the sauce separates cleanly from the can walls.
Gently shake once or twice until the jelly easily slides out onto the plate.

Serving Options

For most Team Canned Jellied Cranberry Sauce members, the point is to keep the shape intact and simply slice it into circles. This hits their nostalgia buttons and keeps the sauce contained, preventing it from running into the mashed potatoes and gravy.

You can also try some of these serving ideas:

For a bit of fun that'll still please the purists, use cookie cutters to cut those round slices into festive fall shapes.
To put a custom spin on your presentation, elevate jellied cranberry sauce slices with sugared herbs and candied spices, yet retain those expected circles.
If it's the taste your guests are after and not so much the circle shapes, try blending a can of jellied cranberry sauce with a can of whole-berry style sauce, and then add a little orange juice or zest with perhaps some rosemary as a finishing touch.
For the perfect marriage of the convenience of a can with the look and taste of homemade, try citrus spice cranberry sauce. It jazzes up a couple of cans of whole-berry sauce with orange segments and zest, along with a spicy kick from cinnamon, star anise, and cloves.

Shelf Life

If you bought too many cans of cranberry sauce this year, don't fret. Unopened cans of cranberry sauce—as well as jams and jellies—last for one year in your cupboard and still taste great. That's one thing to cross off next year's holiday shopping list! After a year, can contents are still safe, but their taste and texture may start to deteriorate.

Once a can has been opened, leave contents out no longer than 2 hours, and then refrigerate them in an airtight container (not the can) for up to a week. Freezer storage is not an option for leftover canned cranberry sauce because, unlike homemade cranberry sauce, freezing makes it watery.

How to Use Leftover Cranberry Sauce

When it comes to leftovers, cranberry sauce was meant to be mixed with a little mayo and spread on good toasted bread for a day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, but that's just a start.

Here are just some of the ways cranberry sauce—jellied or whole-berry—can add a healthful zing to your favorite foods any time of year:

Topping for ice cream
Add-in for yogurt
Filling for a homemade toaster pastry
Spread atop toast or a bagel (with or without cream cheese)
Replacement for jelly in a peanut butter sandwich
Mix-in for oatmeal
Featured fruit in a baked crisp or crumble