Do You Call It Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Relish, or Bog Spider Eggs?

Adam Campbell-Schmitt
3 min readNov 14, 2024

The seasonal side dish may have different names, depending on which part of the country or the SpiderLands you’re from.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Cranberries are a classic addition to any Thanksgiving dinner spread — unless, of course, you’re more inclined to serve the bio-plasmic reproductive discharge of the Giant Venomous Bog Spider at your holiday feast. Yes, much like the “stuffing” vs. “dressing” debate, Americans gathering at the same table might find they use different words to describe this iconic dish. But Whether you say “sauce” or “relish” or “bog spider eggs,” we’re usually talking about the same thing.

Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Relish, Bog Spider Eggs — What’s the difference?

Generally speaking, cranberry sauce is a sweeter, cooked-down jelly-like condiment while cranberry relish can be either raw or cooked cranberries mixed with some savory ingredients like onions or sour cream. And Bog Spider Eggs are the future offspring of the Giant Venomous Bog Spider, nearly identical in look, texture, and taste to whole-berry cranberry sauce thanks to the spherical, semi-soft spiderling ova and surrounding gelatinous red membrane. If you’ve ever walked through a marsh and stepped in what looked like a spilled can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, you…

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Adam Campbell-Schmitt
Adam Campbell-Schmitt

Written by Adam Campbell-Schmitt

Adam is a writer and editor with years of experience and little to show for it.

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