Ocean Spray turned canned cranberry sauce into chocolate candy - $24.95 a box

Ocean Spray, Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés and recipe developer Carolina Gelen have turned the holiday table's jiggliest side dish into a candy. Chocolate Covered Cranberry Sauce pairs ridged slices of Ocean Spray's jellied cranberry sauce with a chocolate coating. The limited-edition four-pack costs $24.95 and is sold only at Compartés while supplies last.

Canned cranberry sauce has stiff competition at Thanksgiving. Between the mashed potatoes, stuffing and mac and cheese, that jiggly side dish often plays the ugly stepsister of dinner, and it does not help that it slides out looking exactly like the can it was packed in. A little chocolate, the partners figure, could finally improve its reputation.

The idea traces back to Gelen's viral 2023 Instagram video, in which she dipped slices of canned cranberry sauce in chocolate. The clip has since racked up more than 10 million views, and Ocean Spray's Kelvin Vuong said the recipe was exactly the kind of unexpected use the company wanted to share with more people. The brand eventually brought in Gelen and Compartés to turn her homemade experiment into something shoppers could buy.

"Getting to work with Ocean Spray and Compartés to turn that idea into something people across the country can try is incredibly exciting," Gelen said in the announcement.

Why tart cranberry works with chocolate

Compartés creative director and chief chocolatier Jonathan Grahm pointed to the contrast between the cranberries' sharp, sour flavor and the richness of the chocolate. It is the same reason raspberry and dark chocolate pair so well, even if cranberry sauce is not exactly the first thing you would think to dip.

The chocolate brand has a second Thanksgiving trick, too: chocolate turkeys filled with Ocean Spray's whole-berry cranberry sauce, in both milk and dark chocolate. Both the turkeys and the four-packs are on Compartes.com now, for however long the limited run holds out.

Cranberry sauce might never get the same love as mashed potatoes, but a coat of chocolate at least gives it a fighting chance.