Cranberry

“ He knows that far up above, his foot will soon fall with light and loving pressure on the tiny, shiny leaves of the sturdy little mountain cranberry, lining smooth little hollows and creeping up to the foot of towering rocks, their brave little rosy-white blossoms telling cheerfully of the snow drifts beneath which they have lain warm and snug all the long stern winter that has just past. ”

“ The Cranberry will only grow in moist soil, or peat earth. It succeeds very well on the muddy margin of a pond; particularly if a row of stakes be driven into the water two or three feet from the edge, and lined with stones, on which is laid a quantity of bog earth. In this earth the cranberries are planted, and they will require no after-care except the occasional trimming into shape of their long runners. The common cranberry is a native of England, Scotland, and indeed of all the north of Europe ”

“ Little cranberry, cranberry, cranberry of mine!
In the garden (there is) a berry - little raspberry, raspberry of mine!
Ah, little pine, little green one,
Don't rustle above me,
Oh-swing, sway, Oh-swing, sway,
Don't rustle above me.
Little cranberry, cranberry, cranberry of mine!
In the garden (there is) a berry - little raspberry, raspberry of mine!
Ah, you beauty, pretty maiden,
Fall in love with me,
Oh-swing, sway, Oh-swing, sway,
Fall in love with me.
Little cranberry, cranberry, cranberry of mine!
In the garden (there is) a berry - little raspberry, raspberry of mine! ”

“ The cranberry plant is a low, trailing, evergreen shrub, with very small, smooth, unserrated leaves, and bright rose-coloured flowers, having a four-toothed calyx and a corolla deeply cleft into four segments, which curve backwards like those of the common nightshade, a flower to which, in shape and size they bear much resemblance, though differing in many other respects. They grow in small clusters at the ends of the branches, one blossom on each long curved flower-stalk ”

“ Here I skirted a purple cranberry bog, having tufts of dwarfed, stubby bayberry bushes scattered over it, each with its winter crop of pale-blue, densely packed, tightly held berry clusters.
Not a flower; not a bird. Not so much as a crow or a robin in one of the stunted savin trees. I remembered winter days here, a dozen years ago, when the alder clumps were lively with tree sparrows, myrtle warblers, and goldfinches. ”

“ After proving themselves worthy of the Ocean Spray label, cranberries for the fresh market go to packaging machines. Those for ready-to-serve products go either to wash tanks for immediate processing or to freezers which hold them until they’re needed.
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. is a national cooperative with grower-members in five cranberry-growing states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon. They produce an annual harvest of over 200 million pounds of cranberries. ”

“ From 3 to 4 bushels a day may be collected by good workers. New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore are the leading American markets for cranberries, whence they are exported to the West Indies, England and France in great quantities. England was formerly supplied by Lincolnshire and Norfolk with abundance of the common cranberry, which it now largely imports from Sweden and Russia. The fruit is much used for pies and tarts, and also for making an acid summer beverage. The cowberry, or red whortleberry, Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea, is sometimes sold for the cranberry. ”

“ The heath family, all the way from clethra which begins it to cranberry which ends it, dwells in beauty and diversity all about in the Plymouth woods, making them fragrant the year round. Some of them help feed the world, notably the cranberries and the huckleberries of a score of varieties from the pale, inch high, earliest sweet blueberries growing on the dry hillsides to the giants of the deep swamp, hanging out of reach above your head sometimes and as big as a thumb end. ”

“ Along the fences wild hops festooned themselves in graceful wreaths of wild luxuriance. A few clumps of cranberry bushes had also been permitted to remain, notwithstanding the American's antipathy to trees or bushes is such, that his axe, which he hardly ever stirs without, is continually flying about him; but this berry, one amongst the many indigenous to the country, is a useful addition to the winter store—they grow abundantly, and, after the first frost which ripens them they have a brilliant appearance, hanging like clustering rubies, reminding one of the gem-clad boughs of Aladdin. ”

“ Pit prunes. Press prunes and cranberry sauce through sieve. Add salt. Beat egg whites stiff. Beat fruit mixture into egg whites a small portion at a time. Mixture will increase in volume with beating. Fold nut meats into whip. Chill. Serve soon after preparation with custard made from leftover egg yolks. Serves 4.
Cranberry Bavarian Cream
1 pint Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1 package lemon gelatin
1⁄4 cup sugar
Dash salt
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Heat cranberry cocktail to boiling point. ”

“ The Cranberry is propagated, through the means of vines which are procured from old bogs; they are cut or mowed off, preferably from vines not more than three or four years old. In sorting these cuttings, care should be taken to remove all the dead wood, and only the bright, clean cuttings used for planting. Most growers estimate five barrels of cuttings to the acre of bog, as they use from four to six cuttings in each setting. Some growers prefer taking runners twenty to thirty inches in length, and doubling them over at time of planting ”

“ News Editor of the Astoria Evening Budget.
The bird with a polished Benny and a bamboo look-good in Boston walks down the street. What is he!’ A cranberry merchant, durn near every -time! For Cape Cod cranberries are worth money, and money buys nifty scenery.
Presto the scene to the lower Columbia river district. A Japalac car. Riding togs. Swell armor. What is it! Cranberry king! yes and no. For the newspapermen of the lower Columbia river district besides dumping dead type are gathering ripe cranberries. This is cranberry time, and a bunch of news hounds are coming cranberry kings. ”

“ After passing through a machine which blows out the chaff, a cranberry must demonstrate that it’s got bounce. Bounce? That’s right. You wonder why? It’s this simple—a good firm berry will bounce. A soft berry won’t. Mechanical separators give each berry seven chances to bounce over four-inch wooden barriers. Berries that don’t have the necessary bounce are discarded. Only the lively ones go on to the screening room where canvas belts carry them between rows of sharp-eyed women who pick out any not up to Ocean Spray’s standards of appearance. ”

“ Pick a quart of cranberries free from imperfections, put a pint of water to them, and put them in a stew-pan over a moderate fire; add a pound of clean brown sugar, and stew them gently until they are soft; then mash them with a silver spoon and turn them into a dish to become cold, then make them in pies or tarts. Many persons put flour in cranberry pies; it is a great mistake, as it completely spoils the color of the fruit; but if they are strained and are too thin to jelly, it is well to add a spoonful of corn starch to thicken. ”

“ Perhaps all Americans know that cranberry sauce goes with Thanksgiving turkey. No country in the world has so many cranberries as North America. The bogs of Cape Cod are famous for this fruit, and the Pilgrims of Plymouth colony knew of them, and served them on their rustic tables. Now the wild marshes along the Atlantic are nearly all under cultivation, and the product has been increased many fold. Fully 1,000,000 bushels are marketed when the crop is good. The same is being done with the bogs in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. Cranberries grow in untold quantities on the marshes of Alaska. ”

“ The American cranberry (O. macrocarpa) is larger and more upright with bigger leaves and berries. Large quantities are exported to Europe and other varieties are also imported into Britain and Germany from Russia and other parts of northern Europe.
Currant (Ribes rubrum) , is an important shrub, bearing red, black and white fruit. Its branches are not prickly; its leaves have three to five lobes, greenish-yellow blossoms and the berries [144] hang in clusters like grapes. It is often planted in gardens for the sake of its fruit, but is also found in a wild state. ”

“ For each peck of cranberries allow two pounds and a half of brown sugar, and half a pint of molasses. Make a syrup of the molasses, sugar, and a little water. When it boils, put in the cranberries, and let them boil till transparent. To make cranberry marmalade, boil the cranberries in just water enough to prevent their burning. Strain them when soft, and add to each pound a pound and a half of brown sugar. Stew it over a slow fire, stirring it constantly, till it becomes very thick jelly. ”

“ Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining cranberries and orange sections. Stir in sugar to taste.
To prepare in a food processor: Add half the cranberries and half the orange pieces to food processor. Turn on and off rapidly, until mixture is evenly chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining cranberries and orange pieces. Add sugar to taste.
Makes 31⁄2 cups. Store in airtight container in refrigerator or freezer.
6 Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1-2 cups water
1 pound (4 cups) Ocean Spray fresh or frozen cranberries
1-2 cups sugar
Combine sugar and water in saucepan ”

“ I know some patches of such meadows today where the cranberry has borne fruit hundreds of years. These natural berries are better than the cultivated ones, probably because the sand with which the made bog is covered has diminished the supply of organic acids. The general consumer has not yet discovered that the native berry weighs a number of [Pg 510] pounds more to the bushel than the cultivated one, and has a richer flavor. In 1855 the statistics of Plymouth showed an acre and a half of cranberry bog valued at $15—while at the present time there are 984 acres valued at $393,600. ”

“ The red whortleberry (vaccinium vitis idea) is found every where, but is most abundant in rocky places. It is aptly termed by the Crees weesawgum-meena, sour berry. The common cranberry (oxycoccos palustris,) is distinguished from the preceding by its growing on moist sphagnous spots, and is hence called maskœgo-meena swamp-berry. The American guelder rose, whose fruit so strongly resembles the cranberry, is also common. There are two kinds of it, (viburnum oxycoccos, and edule,) one termed by the natives peepoon-meena, winter-berry, and the other mongsoa-meena, moose-berry. ”

“ WHY THE JUNIPER HAS BERRIES.
Three cranberries once lived together in a meadow. They were sisters, but they did not look alike, for one was white, and one was red, and one was green. Winter came, and the wind blew cold. "I wish we lived nearer the wigwam," said the white cranberry timidly. "I am afraid that Hoots, the bear, will come. What should we do?"
"The women in the wigwam are afraid as well as we," the red cranberry said. "I heard them say they wished the men would come back from the hunt." ”

“ Until within a few years the Cranberry bog has had to depend upon its own resources for fertilization, as it was popularly supposed that a bog contained all the necessary nutriment to feed the growing crop. Careful investigation by the most successful growers has led them to believe that, in common with every other farm crop, a larger crop of finer quality of fruit can be grown per acre, if a good commercial fertilizer is used upon the Cranberry. ”

“ A man, or even a woman, working on the land is the best scarecrow.
There are a few other fruits that grow wild in certain sections and are gathered and sent to market. Among these the cranberry is the most important. It grows in nearly inaccessible bogs, principally in New Jersey, and the usual custom is for owners of land on which there are cranberry bogs to let out the bog to pickers on a percentage basis. ”

“ Yet the cranberry culture is an industry in which millions of dollars are invested in this country, and it gives employment, for at least a portion of each year, to many thousands of people. In the East, where the value of an acre of even swamp land may run up into the thousands of dollars, a cranberry marsh of five or ten acres is considered a large one, and, cultivated in the careful, frugal style in vogue there, may yield its owner a handsome yearly income. ”

“ The modern grower has found the application of improved methods of cultivation and fertilization to pay liberally with the Cranberry, as with every other crop, and it should be his endeavor, through all available methods, to reduce the cost of growing and increase the yield of berries per acre, giving special attention to such culture as may the better secure the keeping quality of the fruit. ”

“ Add 1 cup cooked sweetened apricots for Cranberry Apricot Delight.
Cranberry-Chiquita.
Fold in 3 bananas cut in 1⁄2 inch slices for Cranberry-Chiquita.
Cranberry-Ruby Pears.
Spoon sauce over cooked or canned pear halves for Cranberry-Ruby Pears.
Put some in your freezer and enjoy these appetizing fresh cranberry sauces the year round.
Quick-Freezing Fresh Cranberries
You can enjoy the appetizing flavor of fresh cranberries the year round by putting a good supply of Eatmor in your home freezer or storage locker.
It's the easiest fruit to freeze. No processing is required. ”

“ Heat oven to 350°F. Sift together onto waxed paper the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, soda and cinnamon. Add walnuts. In mixing bowl, beat egg; add cranberry sauce and shortening. Add dry ingredients; stir until just blended. Pour into greased 9 x 5 x 3′′ loaf pan. Bake in 350°F. oven 45 minutes. Cool on rack.
Note: 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind may also be added. Use remaining 1⁄2 cup cranberry sauce to blend with 1 pkg. cream cheese. Use as a spread for tea sandwiches. ”