In case you haven’t noticed, the cranberry has become the designer fruit of the ’90s. No longer relegated to the role of sidekick to the Thanksgiving turkey, the mouth-puckering red berries are popping up everywhere, in every season.
From traditional juices and sauces to newfangled salsas, salad dressings and cereals, cranberries appear in nearly 700 products in the international marketplace. Even cranberry Jell-O is vying for shelf space between the tried-and-true strawberry and lime varieties.
This fall, Wisconsin’s crimson harvest is expected to exceed 2 million barrels for the first time ever, outstripping even Massachusetts in cranberry production. Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association, says that greater demand for the fruit has driven cranberry growers to expand their bogs and modernize their propagation techniques.
Prices for berries and for bog land have never been higher. Thanks in large part to savvy marketing by Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., the growers cooperative in southeastern Massachusetts, Americans now consume 340 million pounds of cranberries a year.
The earliest North American settlers did not need Ocean Spray’s persuasion to explore the many admirable features of the cranberry. Indigenous to the freshwater bogs of the East Coast, cranberries were a valuable resource to American Indians, who called them “bitter berries” or “sassamanash.” The berries’ tough skins and high acidity help them resist spoilage, and Indians mashed them with dried meat, grains and melted animal fat to make pemmican, a nutritious snack food that kept almost indefinitely. Indians are credited with concocting the original cranberry sauce, sweetened with honey or maple sugar, and they included cranberries in succotash for a note of color and tartness. Indians also used the crimson fruit to make dye, and in poultices to treat poison-arrow wounds.
When the first English colonists arrived in Massachusetts in the early 1600s, they soon learned from the Indians to appreciate the versatile cranberry, which they dubbed “bounce berries” because the berries bounce when they are ripe. (Cranberries are still given a “bounce test” to check for freshness.)
As sugar became available from West Indian sugar cane plantations, the English used it to sweeten the tart berries. John Josselyn, an Englishman who visited New England in 1639, commented on “a delicious Sauce” made from “boyling (the berries) with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat.”
Cranberries didn’t stay put in North America once Europeans began settling in the New World. Loaded with vitamin C, cranberries were a staple on board seagoing vessels, to be added to sailors’ gruel to prevent scurvy. Cranberries were the first native American fruit to be marketed abroad; a jar of “Cape Cod bell cranberries” commanded the steep price of four shillings a jar in London in the early 1700s.
The Dutch and German grew cranberries, too, and when these settlers headed westward, they took along cranberry vines for cultivation in Wisconsin and other far-flung territories. (The Germans are responsible for coining the name “cranberries,” derived from “crane berries,” on account of the vines’ pale pink blossoms, which were thought to resemble the head and neck of cranes that inhabited the bogs.) The Germans created a sweet-tart cranberry soup, spiced with cinnamon and mellowed with cream.
Nicole Routhier, author of several cookbooks including “Nicole Routhier’s Fruit Cookbook,” says that the expanding realm of American regional cuisine is the perfect venue for native foods such as cranberries. (Cranberries are one of three native North American fruits that are commercially produced, along with blueberries and Concord grapes.)
Cranberries are especially versatile, writes Routhier, because they “become totally different fruits when dried.” Routhier, the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and French father who was raised in Laos and Europe, incorporates cranberries in unusual desserts such as a cranberry-banana upside-down cake.
Routhier enjoys the berries in savory dishes too. One of her favorite preparations is pan-fried pork chops with a sweet-and-sour sauce consisting of cranberries, brown sugar and a little soy sauce or salt. Depending on the season, Routhier adds dried herbes de Provence, or fresh dill from her garden. The result, she says, “is simple and just delicious.”
In restaurants all over Chicago, cranberries are showing up on fall menus as a seasonal highlight. Gabino Sotelino, chef/proprietor of Ambria and Un Grand Cafe, pairs sauteed foie gras with cranberries flambeed with brandy, lemon juice and a touch of sugar. His dessert menu at Un Grand Cafe includes an autumnal cranberry pie.
Charlie Trotter’s also makes delicious use of newly harvested cranberries in chutneys, relishes, sauces and breads. Matthias Merges, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, finds that many chefs are experimenting with cranberries, now that they are increasingly available. “Cranberries provide flavor without needing much fat,” Merges notes.
Not only do cranberries add a pleasing accent to food without adding inches to our waistlines, they provide other health benefits too. Cranberry juice has been shown to reduce the incidence of bladder infections by as much as 42 percent. And, because cranberries contain antioxidants, they are believed to help retard the growth of cancerous tumors.
There is no better time to stock up on fresh cranberries than right now, as they bounce out of the harvesting bins and into the supermarket.
Whatever you don’t use will keep for up to six months in the freezer, ready to spike up any dish, from soup to nuts.
NANTUCKET CRANBERRY PIE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 40-50 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
This recipe, adapted from “More Home Cooking,” by Laurie Colwin, is really more like a cobbler than a pie.
2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup butter, melted, cooled slightly
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon each: salt, vanilla or almond extract
Vanilla ice cream, optional
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cranberries and nuts with 1/2 cup of the sugar; put into a buttered 10-inch pie plate or springform pan.
2. Beat eggs with remaining cup of sugar; beat in melted butter, flour, salt and extract until batter is smooth; pour over cranberry-walnut mixture. Bake in middle of oven 40 to 50 minutes, until top is browned and tester comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature, with ice cream if desired.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 425 Fat ………… 23 g Cholesterol .. 100 mg
Sodium …… 90 mg Carbohydrates .. 54 g Protein ……… 4 g
SICILIAN ROASTED VEGETABLES
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
This is an interesting twist on Sicilian agrodolce (sweet and sour) roasted vegetables, adapted from “Nicole Routhier’s Fruit Cookbook.”
1 pint (2 cups) pearl onions, see note
2 tablespoons each: extra- virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, light brown sugar
3 large carrots, sliced
1/2-inch thick
3 medium turnips, peeled, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup dried cranberries, plumped in hot water for
30 minutes, drained
2 tablespoons each: dried currants, toasted pine nuts, shredded fresh basil leaves
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat large pot of salted water to boil. Add onions. Quickly drain onions; rinse under cold water. Peel onions.
2. Combine olive oil, vinegar and brown sugar in a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Add carrots, turnips, onions; toss to coat with seasoning. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Roast, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp tender and caramelized, about 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven; stir in cranberries, currants, toasted pine nuts and basil. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note: 2 cups peeled, frozen pearl onions may be substituted for fresh.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 230 Fat …………. 9 g Cholesterol .. 0 mg
Sodium ….. 300 mg Carbohydrates .. 36 g Protein ……. 4 g
