Sweet and Low (Lowbush cranberries)

By Hklbrries

Far North Cooks are sweet on lowbush cranberries.

When the Pilgrims arrived at Cape Cod on the Mayflower in 1620, they found many strange foods - such as corn and shell beans. But one old favorite they immediately recognized was the lowbush or bog cranberry.

In Alaska, too, early settlers found that boggy areas were home to the delicious lingonberry or cranberry, a ready source of vitamin C that could be crushed into juice, used as a game marinade or cobbled into dessert.

The true cranberry - the adjective separates it from the highbush cranberry , which is not a member of the heath family at all - is a creeping evergreen. The cranberry is circumboreal, familiar to peoples of northern lands the world over.

Gatherers need flexible backs - or a willingness to crawl on their bellies - to collect the tangy, acidic fruit from its low-lying habitat. But, once gathered, the fruit keeps well and supplies the makings for a wealth of pies, breads, cookies, liqueurs and relishes.

Blessed with a waxy hide, the cranberry holds up well in rain and snow. It takes to freezing like a mallard to water, actually getting sweeter after a frost or a spell in the freezer. Early settlers in Fairbanks stored their cranberries in wooden barrels sunk into the ground, allowing permafrost to do the preserving for them.

Paul Benson and Jenny Hemstad of Girdwood have taken advantage of the cranberry's ability to retain taste after being dried. For six years they's operated Capricio Specialities, a business that deals in dried ingredients.

Benson recommends dried cranberries in muffins, pancakes or waffles. Cranberries enhance sauces and chutneys for lamb, and they're perfect for bread puddings and fudge. He also tosses dried cranberries into a stuffing that complements rabbit, pork and Cornish game hens.

Ann Chandonnet, Alaska magazine, February 1995

Recipes in collection associated with this article: Cranberry-Banana Bread or Muffins and Cranberry Ketchup.

Ingredients

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Preparation

Step 1

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