Cran-tastic!

In Canada, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. The harvest is well underway in "the true north strong & free" and we are thankful for all of the bounty that this country provides.

Part of the celebrations will be enjoying the humble cranberry in a variety of recipes, from cranberry punch to cranberry sauce to cranberry bread.

When I was young, I did not like cranberries. I think it was the tart flavor that didn't suit my palate. I have since become a huge fan. These little red berries truly are cran-tastic.

Cranberries are grown across Canada. In the Maritimes, wild cranberries are known as marsh apples. Cranberries are grown commercially in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Canada is the second largest producer of cranberries worldwide.

Cranberries are an interesting little berry. You will find them growing in bogs. A cranberry bog is an area with soft soil, something like a marsh. Cranberries grow on vines. Contrary to what you may have heard, cranberries do not grow under water.

At harvest time, some growers flood the cranberry bogs with up to 18" of water. The berries float to the top of the water and are easier to see and to harvest. Cranberries collected by wet harvest are used to create the cranberry products that you can buy in grocery stores. The cranberries that you buy fresh in packages for your own recipes have been dry harvested by a large machine with metal combs that remove the berries from the vines.

Cranberries not only taste great, but they are good for you. Cranberries contain helpful phytochemicals and have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Cranberries are harvested in the fall, but you can enjoy them year round from your freezer. Bags of fresh cranberries freeze well and do not need to be thawed before you use them in your favorite recipes. I make cranberry scones every year for breakfast on Christmas morning. They are delicious.

I recently joined the Cranberry Club at Ocean Spray (scroll to the bottom of their home page) and I am looking forward to trying out lots of the recipes. The first one that I tried was Cranberry Fudge. It is delicious! I am thinking that we may just have a new Thanksgiving tradition in our family. Something new for which to be thankful.

If you've only every made cranberry sauce, why not kick it up a notch this Thanksgiving and try out a new cranberry recipe? Your taste buds will thank you.

I hope that you enjoy a cran-tastic Thanksgiving and that you have the opportunity to share this special time of year with those who are special to you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Click here to view Agriculture Canada's "Canadian Cranberries: A Tart Treasure".

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