Six Interesting Thanksgiving Food Facts

1. The first jellied cranberry sauce showed up in 1912 canned by Marcus Urann, who would go on to found the cranberry growers co-op known as Ocean Spray.

2. While turkey wasn’t mentioned specifically at the first Thanksgiving, it was noted that the Wampanoag Indians contributed five deer and lots of local seafood like mussels, lobster, and bass were had along with ducks, geese, swan, and even seals.

3. Green bean casserole was invented in 1955 by a Campbell Soup employee named Dorcas Reilly who worked in the test kitchen developing recipes that could go on to be included on the back labels of soup cans.

4. Cranberry sauce is canned upside down so that an air bubble is formed at the top, which helps the ridged crimson mass of sauce to slide out of the can when you open it and loosen it up.

5. The number one pie at Thanksgiving is pumpkin followed by pecan pie in southern regions and apple pie elsewhere. Third place goes to chocolate pie.

6. Butterball has been offering assistance with cooking turkeys by opening up a Turkey Talk-Line that started in 1981. They even have Spanish-speaking experts and more than 100,000 people contact them for help each year.