Crimson tide

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1998 by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley

Now's the time to enjoy the bold, tart flavor of fresh cranberries.

This month, inventive chefs and home cooks across the country are creating recipes for the most colorful food of the season. No, it's not turkey; it's the cranberry. In its natural state, this most American of foods is a far cry from the way it usually appears on the Thanksgiving table. You might never guess that contained within that bouncy red log is the most tart and pleasing member of the berry family. But most cooks rely on this canned rendition of fruit for the festive hues a holiday table demands because they lack recipes that can make the most of its flavor--when treated with a little sweetness, the cranberry can become a focal point of your Thanksgiving meal.

On Thanksgiving Day, 20 percent of the nation's 180 billion (!) cranberries will be consumed. The tradition of this fruit on the holiday table has its origin in New England. Legend has it that when the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Mass., in 1620, the Wampanog Indians who greeted them gave them ibimi ("bitter berries") as goodwill gifts. Later the colonists dubbed their new food "crane berries"' after noticing a resemblance between the vine's flowers and the heads of cranes. Over time, the current, shorter name was adopted.

Whether or not cranberries were actually a part of the first Thanksgiving feast has been hotly debated by historians. But what we do know for certain is that these ruby berries were a big hit with the settlers, who found them not just edible but useful as a dye and as a scurvy prevention (thanks to their high vitamin C content).

The tart-tasting cranberry is a finicky fruit, surviving only under specialized conditions: It requires an acid, sandy soil; plenty of fresh water; and a growing season from April through December. There aren't many places that provide these conditions. The entire North American cranberry industry uses just 26,000 acres of land, nearly half of which are in Massachusetts.

Physically, it's an attractive plant: the berries blossom on a dense mat of slender, creeping vines that make up impermeable beds in marshy areas called bogs, which were originally formed by glacial deposits.

Few sights in agriculture rival the beauty of a cranberry harvest--especially when the backdrop is the yellows, reds and oranges of New England's fall foliage. When the berries ripen, from September through December, growers flood the bogs, then stir up the water with machines called "egg beaters." Cranberries float once liberated from their vines, and the result is a sea of deep red berries, waiting to be corralled with booms and pushed into trucks headed for the processing plant.

The abundance of fresh cranberries at this time of year is inspiration enough to explore a culinary universe that extends beyond relish. The tangy flavor of Cranberry Muffins is a great eye-opener for breakfast and Wild Rice with Cranberries and Caramelized Onions makes an exquisite addition to any holiday menu. With such temptations as these serving as your culinary springboard, you might do well to freeze a supply of fresh cranberries to ensure their place on the table year-round.

Cranberry Surprise Muffins

MAKES 16 OVO-LACTO

The layer of cooked, spiced cranberries makes it hard to eat just one of these muffins.

2 cups cranberries, picked over and
  coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 400 [degrees] F. Grease 16 standard-size muffin pan cups. In medium saucepan, combine cranberries, 1 cup of sugar and nutmeg and cook over medium high heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Cook mixture 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

In large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. In small bowl, mix egg, butter and milk and stir mixture into dry ingredients just until evenly blended.

Divide half the batter among prepared muffin cups. Top with cranberry mixture, then cover with remaining batter. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to rack to cool completely.

Per serving: 157 Cal.; 2g Prot.; 4g Total fat (2g Sat. fat); 30g Carb.; 28mg chol; 76mg Sod.; 1g Fiber.

Wild Rice with Cranberries and Caramelized Onions

4 TO 6 SERVINGS DAIRY-FREE

The sweet-tartness of dried cranberries really shines through in this dish.

2 cups vegetable broth
  cup brown rice, uncooked
  cup wild rice, uncooked
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
3 medium onions, sliced into
  thin wedges
2 tsp. brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tsp. finely grated orange zest

Combine broth and brown and wild rice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and brown sugar. Cook until liquid is absorbed and onions are soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Slowly cook onions, stirring often, until they are a caramel color, about 25 minutes.