Archive Showcase: Cranberry Cutters
It's 1942 and you've got a log of jellied cranberry sauce. What do you do? Cut it into fun shapes, that's what!
November and December are pretty much the favorite season for eating cranberry sauce, though it’s tasty year 'round! Canned, jellied cranberry sauce was first released to the public in 1941 by Ocean Spray. It’s been popular ever since. I grew up with the iconic cranberry sauce log made from pureed and strained cranberries. Cranberries are high in pectin and have a very solid gel. This makes the canned “log” ideal for slicing, which is what many people do to serve it.
But, what if there were more ways to use this unique property of jellied cranberry sauce? Like… cutting it into shapes? Cue the Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Cutters!
One of my favorite things in my collection are these festive cranberry sauce cutters from 1941. They celebrate Easter/Spring, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. What’s special about these particular cutters is that they were designed to be the perfect size for cutting shapes from a slice off the ol’ canned cranberry sauce log! Isn’t that fun?
What’s important about these cutters is that the sides are tapered. I’m not sure why the sides are tapered, but they do cut neatly and slide off easily. I imagine that makes the cuts more precise? All I know is that they work beautifully!
The original box they came in is really cool too, and it includes a little instruction/recipe slip.
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