Things To Do With Cranberries

Making cranberry sauce is much easier than you might think and it's healthier than any of the canned sauces

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 12 oz. bag fresh cranberries

In a colander rinse cranberries and remove any stems and bad cranberries. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add sugar to boiling water and stir until sugar dissolves. (just a few seconds) Add cranberries. Return to boil then reduce heat to med/low and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour sauce into bowl and allow to cool slightly before placing in refrigerator. Serve cold.

Helpful Hint: Cranberries will pop and splatter during boiling so be sure to use a big enough saucepan.

Extra:  You can make cranberry juice the same way, just increase the water to 1 1/2 quarts.  The amount of sugar is up to you.  

These will practically melt in your mouth.  I think it's because of the white vegetable shortening.

• 1 cup white vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. 

With an electric mixer beat shortening and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mix well.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to shortening mixture, mixing until a soft dough forms. Stir in cranberries. Immediately drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Here we have the diva of decorating herself, Martha Stewart showing us how to make a cranberry wreath and a cranberry cocktail. Also, lesser known yet just as talented, crafters sharing their work.

 Tip

DO NOT use frozen cranberries for craft projects as they will become soggy when they thaw out. Frozen cranberries are for cooking and baking only!

Simply place a bag of fresh cranberries in the freezer. Don't wash them before freezing. When ready to use rinse with cold water and remove stems and bad cranberries. Cranberries can be frozen for up to one year.

This video takes us underwater and overhead to see the bogs where cranberries grow. 

As far back as the 17th century, Native Americans believed cranberries had medicinal properties to help relieve liver ailments, blood disorders, loss of appetite and they even applied it topically to wounds.  Those beliefs have been confirmed by scientists today.

The closest I have ever been to a cranberry bog was at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Ocean Spray had actually set up a cranberry bog outdoors at street level. I passed by just as workers were setting up the attraction. As you can see from the pictures they had a cranberry juice bar and cranberry cocktail tables set up in a water-filled bog of cranberries.

Visit Ocean Spray for some new and old recipes with cranberries.