About Cranberries!
Martha Stewart painstakingly strings hers 'round a
Christmas tree. Not one, but two American museums exist that are devoted to
their history. There's even strong evidence that eating them or drinking their
juice may help prevent or cure urinary tract infections. Finally, these tart,
shiny, scarlet gems - sauced, jellied or relished - are an intrinsic part of
traditional holiday feasts.
Harvesting Cranberries
Cranberries were first dubbed "crane berries" because cranes tramping through
cranberry bogs knew a good thing when they saw it. They gobbled up and fed on
the luscious fruit. Cranberries were also once called bounce-berries because of
the way the ripe fruit jumps if dropped.
They were probably first used as a food by Native American Indians. A food
staple called pemmican provided basic sustenance to Native Americans during
long, harsh winters. Pemmican is actually an early, regional form of jerky -
preserved dried meat. Often referred to as a "trail cake," pemmican was the
perfect food for the traveler as well. It was made by pounding salt-dried
venison or other game with cranberries (or other available berries) and melted
fat (suet). This combination formed a perfect and natural preservative. The
mixture was then shaped into coils and stored in animal skins until needed.
Pemmican was practical to the Indian way of life, but American colonists found
Native American foods and foodways strange and unsophisticated. However,
regional foods and unfamiliar ingredients were incorporated into the settler's
diets -- mostly from necessity. Drawing from the cornucopia of local and later,
imported ingredients, colonial cooks transformed the simple foods of the
northeast Indians into more complex dishes that became New England trademarks.
The first American "Thanksgiving," a feast and fete to Chief Massasoit and his
tribe may have featured cornmeal porridge sweetened with maple syrup and dotted
with cranberries. Not only did Native Americans teach European settlers to enjoy
the wild turkey meat, they also showed them that the cranberry's tart nature
could be sweetened by boiling and adding maple syrup. This most likely inspired
the ultimate creation of cranberry sauce as colonists adopted and adapted this
piquant fruit into their own recipes and tastes.
It's a mystery how cranberry sauce became a staple accompaniment to the
Thanksgiving turkey. At my house it's a necessity at Christmas dinner as well.
It was an ordinary accompaniment to meat in every colonial home. By the late
eighteenth century an average midday colonial meal included cranberries in some
form - mostly sauced. Perhaps it was on everyone's table because it was so
plentiful. Since the marsh waters of Cape Cod are a prime source of this native
wetland berry, the colonists had easy and abundant access to their harvest.
Cranberries were soon used to flavor hearth baked breads and to "put up"
preserves.
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