In Season: Cranberries

Posted by Claire Sellers, November 21, 2009 at 11:00 AM

At peak season from October through November, cranberries are a great way to bring in the holidays—with a vibrant hue and delicious tart sweetness, what's not to love? They can be enjoyed in a wide variety of dishes, whether fresh, frozen, or dried.

Cranberry recipes, tips, and info after the jump.

Cranberries are-low growing shrubs or vines reaching 5 to 20 centimeters in height. They have a thin and wiry stem, small evergreen leaves, and dark pink forward-pointing flowers. The fruit that we all know and love is an acidic berry that is white when unripened, but turns a deep festive crimson when fully ripe.

Most cranberries are usually harvested in the fall, and the beds of berries are flooded with six to eight inches of water; then, a harvester combs the fruit free from the vines. From the farm, cranberries are taken to stations where they are cleaned, sorted, and stored before being packaged or processed. An estimated 95% of cranberries are harvested and then processed into juices, canned sauce, and dried—with only the remaining 5% enjoyed fresh.

For ideas on how to use cranberry's this winter, we've compiled our favorite cranberry recipes below.

Recipes

9 Comments Favorite this! (2)

Tags: Cranberries, In Season

9 Comments:

If I may be so bold as to add my father's recipe for cranberry sauce:

http://indirectheat.blogspot.com/2009/11/dads-cranberry-sauce.html

BbqDude at 1:41PM on 11/21/09

If cranberries are "in season", why do so many of these recipes call for dried cranberries? I can get those any time.

iahawk89 at 2:07PM on 11/21/09

You can't bake with fresh cranberries. Fresh cranberries contain a moisture content that messes with the natural leavening inherent to baking. Dried cranberries contain the same flavor but none of the moisture. When dried cranberries are combined with fresh cranberries a higher concentration of flavor can be attained - that is a possible solution as well.

I bought fresh cranberries from the farmer's market today and I might try to make a really flavorful relish using dried, fresh, and other aromatics. Good luck!

wazup1999 at 2:15PM on 11/21/09

Really,really like whole cranberry sauce from the recipe on the bag. Goes with so many things. Very good with potstickers.

lemonfair at 3:21PM on 11/21/09

I like Ina Garten's cranberry sauce.

meleyna at 5:11PM on 11/22/09

@ wazup: You can bake with fresh cranberries. This upside-down cake from "Real Simple" Magazine is one of my new favorites:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/perfect-cranberry-upside-down-cake

CEBakes at 11:16PM on 11/22/09

I would like to sweeten my cranberry sauce with something other than sugar. Being Canadian, eh, I have some very nice grade "A" maple syrup. I'd like to use it today with my turkey meal. Can anyone suggest the amount to use in replacing 1 cup of sugar? I'm going to also add some caramelized onions to the recipe. Sorry I left this so late....just joined! Thanks.

Brutus

Brutus at 2:25PM on 11/25/09

The best use for leftover cranberry sauce, discovered by my mother who is a pie master: Make a two crust apple pie and spread the leftover cranberries on the bottom before adding your apple mixture. The tartness of the berries really goes with the apples.

MartinEdic at 12:30PM on 11/30/09

Not so wazup. Here's a recipe that uses both dried and fresh cranberries. I've made it several times as-written and a couple modified. I make substitute cider for orange juice for the glaze.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/11/spiced_cranberry_bundt_cake

DAFOXFL at 3:33PM on 11/30/09

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