CRANBERRY CRAZY!!!

cranberry quince chutney

To celebrate the cranberry harvest and Thanksgiving I have three cranberry recipes for you, including two using raw cranberries. Raw cranberries are extremely healthy. High levels of antioxidants, antibiotic properties very helpful for those with urinary tract infections, and a preventative measure for kidney stones are a few of this autumn berry's nourishing ways.

Cranberries are native in North America and were used by indigenous peoples for food, dyes, skin treatments, and preserved in pemmican. They have been popular for Thanksgiving meals for centuries, and as a juice since the 1960's thanks to Ocean Spray, a cranberry cooperative started in the early part of the century. They are in the genus Vaccinium along with fellow bush berries, the blueberry and huckleberry.

Washington State is the 5th largest supplier of cranberries, many of them being made into juice and Craisins by Ocean Spray. In 1919 the first cranberry farm was planted in Grayland (7 miles south of Westport) and this still is the center of cranberry farming in Washington. On the stretch along the Pacific between Westport and Tokeland the area is called The Cranberry Coast. Thirty percent of cranberry farms in Washington are located here. There is even a yearly Cranberry Harvest Festival and a self guided Grayland bog driving tour available on the Westportwa website. That driving tour would be a great combo trip with some razor clamming out at Grayland Beach State Park.

Most Washington cranberry farmers sell directly to Ocean Spray. It would be nice to see some of those cranberries being directly marketed to local consumers. This year was the first time Foraged and Found Edibles has sold cranberries at the farmer's market. In the past we have picked just enough for personal use. We harvest them in a old overgrown bog in Grayland next to our friends house. Before all this farming cranberries grew wild all along the Pacific Coast and were utilized extensively by the local natives and then the settlers when they arrived. There are still different varieties of cranberries growing in the wild, just a little harder to find than in the past.

a cranberry bog in grayland

Many cranberry preparations call for large amounts of cane sugar to balance out there sour and bitter flavors, unfortunately this greatly lessens their healing properties. I have been trying to increasingly use alternatives to conventional sugar in my cooking. These recipes take advantage of fruits and honey to sweeten the berries. Apple cider is one great sweetener that is easily available to us in the NW.

Cranberry Walnut Vinaigrette

This recipe is inspired by a salad in Starting With Ingredients by Aliza Green. I am not usually a fan of fruit vinaigrettes but this sounded interesting. The bright pink color is not the most appetizing for food but it does taste great. Serve with bitter greens like endives or in a carrot slaw with dried fruit. I ended up nibbling on it like dip with treviso, sliced raw cranberries and chopped walnuts, yum.

1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/3 cup walnuts
1 Tbsp chopped shallot
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 orange juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp honey
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in a blender and combine until smooth.

creamy pink yumminess

Raw Cranberry Ginger Relish

This easy sauce is great with Thanksgiving turkey or with roast game. And so good on leftover turkey sandwiches. Add some chopped walnuts right before serving if desired. With walnuts it reminds me of haroset served at Jewish Passover meals. Adjust the dates and honey to your sweetened desire.

2 satsuma oranges, washed, halved, and seeds removed
6 - 8 medjool dates, pits removed
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cups fresh cranberries
2-4 tsp honey, maple syrup, or agave syrup

Place satsumas, dates, and ginger in the work bowl of a food processor. Puree until fine. Add cranberries and sweetener and pulse to chop until medium-fine but not a paste. Alternatively toss all ingredients together and run through a meat grinder. This gives it a great texture. Let sit at least one hour for flavors to combine.

Spiced Cranberry Quince Chutney

I adapted this sauce from my own recipe in the 2010 Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar for Evergreen Huckleberry Chutney. It goes with out saying - this is turkey dinner material. Also a perfect candidate for a holiday chutney cream cheese roll.

1 cup small diced shallots
3 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 cinnamon stick
1 ½ cups small-diced quince (about 1 med quince)
2 cups apple cider
3 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
3-6 tbsp of honey

Sauté shallots in olive oil over medium-high heat until they begin to lightly brown. Turn heat to medium, add salt and spices, and cook for a few more minutes, until spices are fragrant. Add quince and apple cider; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn down and keep at a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until quince is tender. Add cranberries and 3 tbsp honey and cook until berries pop, about 20 minutes. Taste and add more honey if too tart. Let cool to room temperature to serve, or store in refrigerator for up to one week.

It was all about Succotash

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"It was all about succotash. He said that succotash was made with lima beans and she said that succotash was made with string beans, and there you are."
-origin unknown

The definition and understanding of succotash depends on from where and when you are. The word succotash is derived from the Narragansett Indian word msakwitash meaning fragments or boiled corn. From this dish of Native American origin, succotash was born into, and survived centuries of interpretation and localization.

The poor man's staple of corn and beans that was popular during the Great Depression, had its roots in colonial adaptation, which had its roots in first peoples' wild food sources.
In every step people utilized what they had and made of it what they knew, depending on the times. The Holly Grove Farm puts it well - "each version of succotash may tell a story......What ever the case may be, it is a plate of cultural anthropology, a taste of history." They go on to give a recipe for Creole succotash with okra.

The only essential ingredient of succotash is fresh corn cut off the cob, and beans (green, dried shell, lima) cooked along with other "fragments" - old recipes usually included onions, salt pork or bear fat, and possibly squash or other meat. In The Story of Corn by Betty Harper Fussel, Zuni succotash is described thickened with ground sunflower seeds or pinon nuts, and in Native Harvests by Barrie Kavasch succotash is simmered with nut butter. During the Great Depression succotash was commonly topped with pastry and baked into a pie. We even have an insipid version found in every American grocery store freezer. Other evolutions- dried corn, sweet or hot peppers, cream, maple syrup, fresh peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, leeks, fresh herbs, even curry and coconut, and of course, mushrooms.

My personal story of succotash involves wild mushrooms. I find myself coming back again and again to this basic formula - corn, sweet onions, mushrooms. The standard bean component has been replaced or augmented with mushrooms. In some ways wild mushrooms are woven into the story of my whole life and with the question - Why wild mushroom succotash? - you would get an answer years long.

Whether okra or lima beans or green beans or mushrooms, "there you are" sustaining yourself with what is fresh, locally available, and preferred by your taste buds or cultural conventions, eating a dish that connects you to our collective evolving history.


Use the recipe below as a guideline to make your own variations of, or rather evolutions on, the succotash theme. Meaty lobster mushrooms are great substitutes for chanterelles. Yesterday I made a version with lobsters, cippollinis, corn and purlsane tossed in at the end (no beans). Thick purslane leaves hold up nicely in warm dishes.

This recipe is from The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar 2009.

Summer Chanterelle Succotash

The chanterelles of late summer are smaller, firmer and drier than the fall harvest, and this recipe takes advantage of those qualities, along with other delicious bounty found in the farmers market during August. Serve this atop grilled salmon or a juicy pork chop. Or with fresh cooked shell beans, such as cranberry, tossed in the mix.

1 pound fresh cippollini or Walla Walla or other sweet onion
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
3 ears sweet corn
4 tbsp unsalted butter
¾ lb small chanterelles, cleaned, and halved if big
½ lb romano green beans, cut on diagonal in thirds, and blanched in salted water
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 lemon, zest and juice
½ cup basil, slivered

Heat oven to 325˚F. Cut onions into medium wedges and place in baking dish. Toss wedges with 1 tsp salt, a few grindings of pepper and olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Meanwhile, cut corn off cob and scrape the cob with a knife or spoon to get the all the corn milk left behind. In a large skillet heat 2 T butter over medium high heat. Add chanterelles, 1 tsp salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Sauté until tender and liquid has evaporated. Turn heat down to medium and add corn, continue cooking until heated through. Add romano beans, baked onions with all their juices, the lemon zest, half the lemon juice and the remaining butter. Heat through for a few minutes. Turn off heat and add tomatoes and basil. Taste and adjust seasonings and lemon juice.

This Week at Foraged and Found 6/18

Morels are back this week!! Finally some forest fires are producing.

And we have a new item this week- Saskatoon Berries.
For the first time Jeremy found a large field of them in Washington. They are also known by the names serviceberry and juneberry, but I definitely like the name saskatoon- so much funner to say. Saskatoons are more prolific farther north in Canada and are very popular there as well. There are even u-pick saskatoon berry farms. Saskatoons look similar to blueberries but the fruit is actually a pome, such as apples and pears. The texture reminds me of a juicy soft apple, and tastes neither too sweet or sour with hints of plum and fig. They are very high in antioxidants, higher even than blueberries, and a good source of fiber. Native use of this bush included using the wood and leaves medicinally and drying berries into cakes for later use. Also often an ingredient in pemmican-a dried meat, fat and fruit mix-that is used as emergency food. This is the original energy bar of the native North Americans, so useful that it became popular with explorers and fur traders too. I would like to try making this- how does elk saskatoon pemmican with a touch of juniper and honey sound? Check out this detailed recipe. Not feeling that adventurous?- Sauces, jams, and pies are also good ways to enjoy these special berries.

We will have at the markets this weekend:

Morels
King Boletes
Sea Beans
Miner's Lettuce
Elderflowers- see following recipe
Saskatoon Berries


Foraged and Found Edibles is a northwest wild food business selling locally to restaurants and at farmers market in the Seattle area. Throughout the summer you will find us Saturdays at the University District Market, and Sundays at Ballard and West Seattle markets.