Taster's choice: Saucy time for cranberries

By Kathy Saunders, Times Correspondent
Published November 18, 2007

Whole berry cranberry sauce rankings
1. Hannaford (Sweetbay)
2. Publix
3. Great Value (Wal-Mart)

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It seems easy enough to plop some fresh cranberries into a saucepan and watch them pop into sauce. But sometimes the freshest berries make a sauce that's too tart for our judges. A couple allowed that they use the store-bought, canned variety every holiday season.

My British-born mother didn't quite grasp the Thanksgiving concept until I was a bit older. She also didn't like cranberry sauce. So our table spread always included the jellied cranberry sauce that left the imprint of the can even after slicing.

Taster's Choice judges found five brands of canned cranberry sauce that came the closest to the real deal.

We even found one that satisfied our fussiest judges.

The cranberry sauce from Hannaford, the store brand at Sweetbay, scored 86 out of 100 possible points. Three of the five judges said they would buy the Hannaford sauce 99 cents for a 16-ounce can.

"This looks fairly close to homemade with seeds and skins," one judge said. "It has a good variation of smooth and chunky texture and it's a little more tart than the others.

"It's got a nice, bitter cranberry edge."

Another panelist said the Hannaford sauce would go great with corn bread stuffing or wild rice.

"It's not very deep but sparkly bright - as in 'it makes the season bright,' " he said.

All of the judges praised the ruby red color of the sauce.

Panelists also liked the Publix store brand of cranberry sauce (99 cents for a 16-ounce can). They gave it 78 points and, again, three said they would buy it.

"This has the skins, the stems and all the real stuff," one judge said. "And it would look great on our table next to the turkey."

The Publix brand had the most whole berries.

Another store brand, Great Value from Wal-Mart (78 cents for a 16-ounce can), was the third choice with 73 points. Two of the judges said they would buy the sauce from Wal-Mart.

Judges said the cranberries from the discount store brand had a good balance between sweet and sour. They also were dark and richly colored and satisfyingly tart.

Also sampled were canned cranberry sauces from Albertsons ($1 for a 16-ounce can) and Ocean Spray ($1.47 for a 16-ounce can from Publix).

Panelists were Nan Jensen, registered dietitian with Pinellas County Cooperative Extension; Bob Devin Jones, artistic director of Studio@620; John Hehn, foodie and owner of All Brite Lighting & Power Design; aesthetician Jim Yockey; and Times food critic Laura Reiley. All foods were tasted blind.

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 10:59:29]