Skip to main content
Salad

Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa

A fresh salsa made with cranberries, orange, ginger, jalapeño, mint, and sugar.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Orange and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,833 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salsa

  1. Pulse fresh cranberries in a food processor until minced, then transfer the minced cranberries to a small bowl.

  2. Pulse the orange and the next four ingredients in a food processor 3 to 5 times or until the mixture is finely chopped.

  3. Stir into the cranberries; cover and chill if desired.

Store and serve

  1. Store in refrigerator.

  2. Garnish, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

119Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Ginger + minttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Orange + minttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together549 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh cranberries
Provide the tart base and bulk of the salsa, with their acidity balancing the sugar.
Sugar
Sweetens the tart cranberries and helps soften their sharp bite.
Jalapeño peppers
Add heat and a sharp, fresh pepper flavor to the salsa.
Crystallized ginger
Adds sweet, spicy warmth that complements the cranberries and jalapeño.
Navel orange
Contributes citrus aroma and sweetness, plus some bitterness from the unpeeled skin.

The step that matters

Pulse the orange and add-ins briefly. Over-processing turns the mixture into a paste and releases excess juice, so pulse only 3 to 5 times until finely chopped to keep a pleasant, scoopable texture.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, ginger, pepper, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, ginger, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes