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At the end of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever” from the Magical Mystery Tour album, John Lennon mutters “cranberry sauce.” There was no intended meaning to this; it was just supposed to add to the surreal feeling of the song.
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A can of whole-berry cranberry sauce contains about 99 cranberries.
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Irish band The Cranberries were originally named “The Cranberry Saw Us” (cranberry sauce).
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Cranberries are harvested by flooding the cranberry beds. A machine goes through and removes the berries from the vines. The harvested berries then float on top of the water and can be rounded up easier.
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You can always buy cranberry sauce – a lot of people like to plop it out of the can directly to a plate because it holds the shape of the can perfectly, ridges and all. But if you’d like a more, shall we say, wholesome alternative, here’s a recipe for you.
Just a quick correction. Cranberry plants (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) are not vines. They are, in fact, creeping shrubs.
posted by botanycreek on 11-25-2008 at 10:08 am
My mom uses a recipe very close to this one, but she puts whole oranges in instead of juice and runs the entire recipe through a grinder. I don’t even like cranberries, but the smell when she prepares it is heavenly!
posted by Miss Cellania on 11-25-2008 at 11:27 am
If you really love cranberries, visit the Cranberry Visitor Center in Tomah, Wisconsin.
posted by taylor on 11-25-2008 at 12:18 pm
Cranberries do NOT grow in BEDS the term is BOGS.
posted by Cherry on 11-25-2008 at 1:38 pm
Ask and ye shall receive! THANKS STACY!
posted by bzzyb on 11-25-2008 at 3:50 pm
The Sto:lo people, who lived on the Fraser River in British Columbia, came from miles around each autumn to harvest cranberries in the regional bogs and sloughs. It formed a major part of their diet, and was an important trade article, as well. The Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Langley in the area in 1827, and soon the company was processing cranberries itself, drying/preserving and sending them off for use by HBC posts in other parts of the Pacific Northwest. It must have been a wonderful treat, not only for one’s health (blasting vitamins through a colon full of venison and dried salmon) but also for one’s taste-buds (mmmmm, zesty!)
posted by Kikadee on 11-25-2008 at 6:15 pm
the cranberry is my favorite thing in the whole world, and I maintain that my cranberry sauce is the best: sugar, water, berries, and a splash of apple juice. Thanks for the fun post!!
posted by Liz on 11-25-2008 at 11:49 pm
As The Cranberries are Irish, couldn’t their original name also be a nod to a childhood spent idolizing dinosaurs?
Cranberry Saurus would be a particularly fearsome addition to any dinner table.
posted by grover on 11-28-2008 at 2:32 am