FOOD NEWS
Why Your Canned Cranberry Sauce Is Upside-Down
By Betsy Parks
In the U.S., we consume a staggering 5,062,500 gallons of canned cranberry sauce during the holiday season; according to Ocean Spray, the company makes 70 million cans per year.
These cans look like they’re labeled upside-down, but this is intentional to make the sauce easy to remove in one piece without having to scrape it out or ruin its shape.
In the early 2000s, Ocean Spray figured out that if they designed the cans to be sold upside down, it would leave a small vacuum bubble of air around the rounded edge.
All you need to do is give the can a good shake or slide a spatula around the sides to release the vacuum seal, and the cylinder of sauce should slide out in one piece.
Prior to this design, consumers used some questionable methods to break the vacuum seal, including poking a hole in the bottom or cutting a hole with the can opener.