by Jessica Rucker

A staple for many holiday meals is the red gelatinous mold from the inside of a can cut into 1/2 slices called cranberry sauce.  I always found it odd that it sits amongst home cooked foods as if it’s an equal but nevertheless, I was addicted to it and used it like gravy, mixing it with every morsel of food on my plate.

As I’ve gotten older and have become more aware of what I eat, I wanted to find out exactly what this stuff is and why it’s so addicting.  There are two kinds of canned cranberry sauce; whole berry and jellied. Both of these are made the same way, by boiling cranberries with water and sugar or corn syrup until it thickens.  The jellied version, the one I consumed like halloween candy is cooked longer and strained to remove any skin or solid material. Both of these are processes but the latter is a process that removes the majority of the nutrients that cranberries can provide.

Let’s look a little deeper into our friend the cranberry.

Cranberries are Native to North America. They are small, smooth-skinned, round berries that are glossy deep red to red-maroon. About one-third of an inch in diameter and half-inch long, the cranberry has seeds that are attached to the center of the fruit and are surrounded by a tart white pulp. Wisconsin is the 2nd largest producer of commercial cranberries behind Massachusetts. This fruit, also called bounceberries because they bounce when ripe belong to the same family as blueberries and huckleberries but are too tart to eat unlike these fruits and need to be mixed with something sweet like sugar or orange juice. Cranberries are effective for preventing and treating urinary tract infections in part due to their high acidity and their ability to inhibit bacteria from adhering to the lining of the urinary tract. Cranberries are a good source of vitamin C and 1/2 a cup of cranberries contain 34 grams of potassium. Only 10 percent of the commercial crop is sold fresh; the rest is processed into juice or canned cranberry sauce. “Encyclopedia of Foods - A Guide to Healthy Nutrition.”

That we take the natural properties of the cranberry, dismantle and dismember them into a product so far from its natural state and still make sure it’s on the table for everyone to eat is amazing!

Chunky Cranberry Sauce

by Cathy Fisher

Ingredients:

3-4 medjool dates, pitted and diced

½ cup water

1 12-oz. bag fresh or frozen whole cranberries (about 2+ cups)

1 cup water

1 pear, cored and diced

1 apple, cored and diced

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground clove

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Directions:

1. Place diced dates in a cup with ½ cup water (or enough just to cover).

2. While the dates are soaking, place cranberries in a pot with 1 cup water and cook uncovered on medium until skins split open and mixture begins boil, about 10 minutes.

3. Blend dates in their water in a blender until smooth (or see note below).

4. Add to the cranberries: the pear, apple, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and date mixture, and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened.

Notes: Golden raisins are great too, if you can find them. It’s hard to find them organic, so I usually just go with the brown.  Asian pears work well too in place of the apple and/or pear.  Use fresh whole nutmeg (with a Microplane grater) for enhanced flavor.  If you don’t want to soak/blend the dates, you may also mince them and add them in with the apples, etc.  Make this the night before you are planning to serve it so the flavors thoroughly co-mingle.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking: 20 minutes

Serves: 6 (half-cup portions)