Thanksgiving is almost here again. And one of the favorite sides for this Garden Lady is the cranberry sauce. The cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is said to be one of three fruits native to America (this includes blueberries and the Concord Grape), so the original colonists were smart to learn how to use cranberries from the native Indians. See here. The plant lies so low to the ground and the fruit is so small, I imagine that children must have been the gatherers. Fortunately for us, improved harvesting methods today make it much easier to collect cranberries today.
A tour of the cranberry bogs, cranberries grow in swamp areas, is an interesting outing for groups and/or families. Visiting the cranberry bogs and attending the cranberry festival during The Chatsworth Cranberry Festival was an eye opening experience for TheGardenLady. This is located in what is called the New Jersey Pinelands and this area in itself is interesting to explore. See here.
In NJ, Massachusetts and Wisconsin the harvest is usually done in October or early Nov., but check in your area to see if there is still some harvesting going on and if it is too late this year, plan a trip next fall. See here.
Since today scientists have discovered antioxident properties of this fruit (see here), it is an added bonus to eat cranberries.
Every year the recipe that is a must at the Thanksgiving table is the cranberry relish using fresh cranberries. In fact, any time fowl is served in this house, cranberry relish is one of the side dishes. So when the cranberries are on sale, TheGardenLady buys a few bags of cranberries to toss in the freezer to have freshly made cranberry sauce during the rest of the year. Besides rinsing the cranberries in a colander and taking out the few wrinkled, bad looking berries, it takes no more than 10 minutes to make fresh cranberry relish. ]
TheGardenLady alters the recipe on the Ocean Spray cranberry package which calls for 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar and one 12 oz bag of (frozen)Â cranberries. Instead of using 1 cup of water, I use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Orange Juice and fill the cup with Water to make 1 cup of liquid. And instead of all that sugar called for on the package, I cut back on the sugar and use only 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar. The amount will depend on your sweet tooth.
TheGardenLady is also a big fan of Craisins both for the taste and the antioxidant properties (see here). My favorite breakfast is made with oatmeal, 1/2 cup of old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal, water as per box recipe (I add an extra half cup water to the old fashioned oatmeal), a handful of crasins and cinnamon to taste and cook all together. Because of the sweetness of the craisins and the feeling of sweetness with added cinnamon, TheGardenLady does not add any sugar and doesn’t even use milk. But that is optional for your palette.
- Cranberry sauce by Isabella Perry
Where ever raisins are used in a recipe, TheGardenLady uses Craisins or a mixture of raisins and Craisins, for example, cookies like oatmeal cookies or pumpkin bread.
And TheGardenLady’s favorite spinach recipe is the Italian Spinach, raisin and pine nut recipe. Of course, I use craisins.
Brown 1 chopped yellow onion in olive oil in a fairly large pot. When the onion is lightly brown, Put in fresh spinach. ( a bag or bundle that is about 1 lb. or however much you need for the people you are serving. Increase the onions to 2 if you are making 2 lbs of spinach.) Rinse the fresh spinach, shaking off most of the water and put it in the pan you browned the onions and add a handful of Craisins. Then cover the pot and saute/steam the spinach, onions and Craisins on low heat till the spinach is limp. Check to see that it doesn’t burn- lower heat or add a pinch of water if it seems like it may burn. When the spinach is cooked salt and pepper it to taste. Put toasted pignoli (pine nuts) nuts or toasted pecan nuts on top and serve. Optional: you can add some fresh chopped garlic that is browned and lemon juice to taste.
Love to have you share some of your favorite Thanksgiving side vegetarian dish recipes. Happy Thanksgiving.