Crazy About Cranberries - Recipe

Vegetarian Journal, Nov, 2000 by Debra Daniels-Zeller

One of my favorite getaways is the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington State, where a third of the nation's cranberry crop is grown. At the cranberry museum you can learn the history of cranberry farming and take bog tours in the fall. Throughout the local towns you can get such things as cranberry pancakes and toppings, cranberry ice cream, and cranberry candy. Everywhere you look, you're reminded that cranberries help keep these communities alive. And though others may sing the delights of fall pumpkins or crunchy sweet apples, the season hasn't really started until I savor the sassy-sweet flavor of freshly cooked cranberries.

Nutritionally, cranberries are rich in vitamin C and fiber. Though commercial drinks usually contain too much sugar, you can make your own cranberry juice by cooking and straining the berries and sweetening it with a fruit sweetener--or you can drink it unsweetened.

Native to North America, cranberries grew wild in bogs from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, in New Jersey, Michigan, and on the west coasts of Washington and Oregon. Native Americans tended the bogs, hand weeding and harvesting the small red berries. Early settlers called them "crane-berries" because during one stage of growth the cranberry bud hooks downward resembling a crane's head. Later the name was shortened from "crane-berry" to cranberry.

In the early 1800s it was discovered that when the wind blew sand over the bogs, the cranberries grew much more vigorously. Commercial cultivation began as swampy lowlands were cleared and bogs were created with layers of peat and sand. The sand gave the bogs better drainage and also helped protect the cranberries when the temperatures were freezing. Though they need a cool growing season, they are susceptible to frost. To combat this, growers today use sprinkler systems. As the water from the sprinklers freezes over the flesh of the fruit, the berries are kept from freezing.

Though we don't usually start thinking about cranberries until October, in late May the bogs are filled with millions of pink blossoms. In June, growers hire beekeepers to bring hives to their bogs to pollinate cranberry flowers for the next few weeks. In the past, cranberry crops were almost totally dependant on bumblebees for pollination, but as the bumblebee population has declined and crops have increased, they have been replaced with honeybees, which work more slowly and are more easily distracted by other surrounding plants. By August most of the berries have reached full-size and have begun to turn red. By September, they are a deep red color--one of the most beautiful sights of autumn.

Harvesting begins in October and runs through November. The deeper the color of the cranberry, the better the market price, so sometimes farmers try to hold off harvesting, hoping for more cool nights and better colored berries. Berries are either dry or wet harvested. Fresh cranberries in the produce section of your grocery store are dry harvested. Wet harvested berries are processed as juice or made into sauces or relish. In wet harvesting, the night before the harvest, the bogs are flooded. The next day mechanical water reels knock the berries off the vines, and the floating cranberries are corralled and then collected.

Many commercial growers belong to Ocean Spray Growers Cooperative, which processes and markets the berries. Though most commercially grown cranberries use irrigation systems to apply fertilizers, fungicides, and pesticides, there is a small number of organic cranberry farmers emerging. It's a difficult process because growers often have to wait seven years to get their first harvest, and since cranberries are susceptible to fungus, their crops can easily be wiped out. Here in the Northwest, the Coquilles--a Native American tribe in Oregon near Coos Bay--are finding their organic, hand-weeded, and harvested cranberries in high demand. The quality of their vine-ripened berries is exceptional, with a rich, sweet flavor.

When selecting berries, look for those that are bright red, hard, and plump. Avoid soft, dull, or shriveled berries. Cranberries will keep up to two months refrigerated, or you can seal them in plastic bags or a container and freeze them. They will keep until the next harvest.

The following are some of my favorite cranberry recipes. When creating your own recipes, remember their tart flavor is best balanced with sweet ingredients such as apples, pineapples, pears, or oranges. You can also use frozen cranberries for all these recipes.

Note: For more information about bog bus tours or the cranberry museum in Washington, call the Pacific Coast Cranberry Foundation Museum at (360) 642-4938.

ORANGE-CRANBERRY "BUTTER" (Makes 1 cup)

This topping is excellent on hot biscuits or fresh bread. Refrigerated, it will keep for about one week.

2 medium pears or apples, peeled, cored,
  and sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup water
3/4 to 1 cup organic or raw sugar
1 to 2 Tablespoons brandy (optional)