November 23 – National Eat a Cranberry Day

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Orndo you think of still pools of water gone bright red with ripencranberries?

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nCranberriesngrow on dwarf shrub plants that grow in wetlands, sometimes partlynsubmerged in water. The wetlands aren’t just any wet place – forncranberries, the bogs must be acidic. The flower of this plant tendsnto bend toward the ground and looks a bit like the head, neck, andnbill of a crane – and that is where the name cranberry comesnfrom.

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nInnorder to make harvesting easier, cranberry growers flood the bog withnmore water so that the vines are entirely submerged, and a harvesternis driven through the beds to remove fruit from the vines. Releasednfrom the plant, the cranberries float at the top of the pools and cannbe easily sucked up via a hose.
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nThenmore usual wet harvesting method is fine for making cranberry juicenand cranberry sauce, which is how 95% of cranberries are used. 

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Some people prefer cranberry sauce (above). and others prefer cranberry jelly (below).

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nAnd then there is my favorite: dried, sweetened cranberries in Trader Joe’s cereal.
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nHerenare some of the favorite cranberry recipes my family uses at thisntime of year:

n1 bag fresh cranberries 

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n1 seedless orange, washed 

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nsugar        

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nUse a grinder to grind up the cranberries and the orange, rind and all. Add sugar to taste. Be conservative with the sugar at first, and let the relish sit overnight and then taste again. If you need more sugar, you can add a bit more. (Just remember, you can always add more, but you cannot take sugar out!)

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n Dressing – blend together:

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n½ncup sugar
1/3n- cup lemon juice
2ntsp. finely chopped onion
1ntsp. Dijon mustard
½ntsp. salt
2/3ncup oil
1nTbsp. poppy seeds 

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