November is in full-swing, with its snow flurries and shorter days, and everyone is starting to plan their Thanksgiving meals and special baking projects. We will be offering all our flavorful fruit and veggie fare at Pathfinder Produce right on through the season, and hope that you'll try our fresh produce market to obtain your ingredients. We'll be open on Thursday afternoons, from 2 to 5 p.m. (Please note the market will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 28).
A Thanksgiving turkey would be incomplete if it were not served with cranberry sauce, in my opinion. Most of us go the canned route, but I think this year I may venture into making it myself. A friend recently shared a picture of a batch she had made on her Facebook page; she's a big advocate for home cooked foods, and the crimson colored jars really looked tempting. I bought some berries at last week's market, and the directions are provided on the produce bag: they seem simple, so as they say “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Cranberries are also wonderful additions to relishes, salads and muffins, and the dried, sweetened berries are a nice alternative to raisins for snacking or dressing up your morning oatmeal. Our Pathfinder Bakery makes a great orange-cranberry muffin, but here's a nice pumpkin-cranberry recipe from the Ocean Spray website (www.oceanspray.com), which has a lot of recipes to explore.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin (I am assuming this is canned pumpkin, but not the pie mix pumpkin)
1 5-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
Directions: 12 muffins
· Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease muffin tins. (I’d probably use paper inserts just for ease of cleaning).
· Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
· Combine remaining ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.
· Add liquid ingredients to dry, mixing just until the dry ingredients are moist.
· Fill each muffin cup 2/3 of the way full with batter.
· Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. (I would test with a toothpick to make sure they’re thoroughly cooked).
· Remove from tins; cool on a wire rack.
There are many web articles offering information on cranberries’ historical importance and nutritional background. Related to the blueberry and huckleberry, there are four varieties of cranberries, all native to North America. The plant is a running vine, and the name derives from “craneberry,” as early European settlers thought parts of the plant looked like the heads of cranes. Algonquian tribes, who called the berries Sassamanash, are thought to have introduced the berries to starving English settlers in the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the berries were credited in historical references as a preventative to scurvy.
The first commercial cranberry farm was started by Henry Hall on Cape Cod about 1816. The crop soon became popular in Europe. Today, cranberries are a major commercial crop, with a fifth of the world's supply coming from British Columbia; Wisconsin and Massachusetts are the largest producers in the U.S. Most American cranberries are grown by farmers who belong to cooperatives, a strategy which gained popularity in the early 20th century as it offered uniform pricing and shared marketing costs. Until the 1960s, most berries were sold during the holidays; since that time, the industry has branched out into products that are enjoyed throughout the year.
Historically, cranberry beds were started in marshy regions. Today, special man-made sandy beds ringed with earth berms are used. During the growing season, cranberry beds are not flooded, but the berry vines are irrigated to build strong roots. The beds are flooded for the September harvest; mechanical harvesters loosen the berries from the vines, and the floating berries are then gathered. About 10% of the US crop is dry-picked, which is then bagged and sold as fresh berries.
Cranberries are too sour to be eaten by themselves, and are combined with sweeteners in most food products. Cranberry juice cocktail is more highly sweetened than most sodas to counteract the berries' natural tartness, and the popular dried berries are also sweetened. Therefore, they should not be eaten in great quantities, especially for those who wish to limit sugar intake. Raw cranberries have moderate levels of Vitamin C, fiber and manganese. They are a source of antioxidants, and may be beneficial in boosting the cardiovascular and immune systems. Research results are mixed on the efficacy of cranberry juice as a treatment or preventative measure against UTIs or promoting renal health.
Enjoy this next week, and we hope you’ll join us this Thursday for Pathfinder Produce!
