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For a brief time each autumn, billions
of our zippiest, bounciest, most beautiful berries make their
appearance in America. During an amazing, carefully orchestrated
technological blitzkrieg in which growers flood their bogs, churn
the water with large egg beater-like reels, and guide huge floating
crimson carpets of berries up conveyors into waiting trucks, the
cranberry industry now efficiently produces about 650 million
pounds of these indigenous fruits of the Heath family annually.
Several years ago, on a crisp October day
under a vivid blue sky, I watched the harvesting at Whitesbog,
a historic southeastern New Jersey cranberry farm in operation
since the mid nineteenth century. I was enthralled as the work
along the tidy-man-made rows of bogs proceeded methodically, with
one bog always draining, one filling, and another under more than
a foot of water and blanketed with shimmering berries. Octogenarian
Tom Darlington, the patriarch of the family, explained that once
a bog is flooded, harvesting must occur quickly, because wet berries
spoil and the plants die if submerged more than a day or so. (For
some pictures of the Whitesbog harvest, visit “Nifty Stuff”
on my website, www.kitchenlane.com.) After being gathered, the Whitesbog berries
are quickly cleaned, sorted, and whisked to a processing plant.
They, like the crops from hundreds of other bogs, soon turn up
on American dining tables as sauce, juice, and myriad other menu
items, such as the tempting cranberry streusel bars below. Tom
says his family serves cranberries in some form—usually
juice—every day of the year! Most experts think the cranberry industry
had its beginnings in the Cape Cod town of Dennis in the early
1800s. A Captain Henry Hall found that sand blown over a wild
cranberry bog on his property greatly improved its productivity.
Gradually, farmers began to tend existing bogs and plant new stock
to increase their yields. Cranberries were also cultivated in
New Jersey by 1835, Wisconsin in 1853, and in Oregon and Washington
in the late 1800s. By 1900, 21,500 acres were being grown
in the US. More than 40,000 acres, now mostly of manmade bogs
in cooler climates, are in production today. Botanists like to
say that cranberries prefer “their feet in the water and
their heads in the sun,” so low-lying coastal areas along
the Northeast and Northwest coasts and Great Lakes are the primary
growing regions today. In Simeon Deyo’s time, cranberry
harvesting was labor-intensive, providing as he observed, “lucrative
employment to men, women and children during a period of several
weeks.” Even though hand picking was later speeded up with
toothed cranberry scoops that workers used to comb through the
plants and pluck off the fruits, the industry still required hundreds
of seasonal employees each fall. Later, lawn mower-size harvesters
with both metal teeth and a conveyor system made it possible for
10 workers to do the job that once required 100! Cranberry-Raspberry Streusel Bars
(printable
recipe) For a nice seasonal dessert or treat with
coffee or tea, serve these zesty, fruity, crumb-topped
bars warm with a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped cream.
Or let the bars cool, then cut into very small bars and serve
on a cookie tray. Tip: If you happen to have raspberry jam
with seeds, simply heat the jam (in a microwave-safe bowl) in
the microwave oven until fluid, then stir and strain the jam through
a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Streusel Place a rack in the upper third of the
oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously spray a 7-
by 11-inch or 9-inch square flat baking dish with nonstick spray. For the streusel: In a large bowl, thoroughly
stir together flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and
salt. Add the butter, stirring until the mixture is well blended
and crumbly. Firmly press about half (no need to measure) the
streusel into the baking dish, forming a packed, even layer. Stir
the nuts (if using) into the remaining streusel; set aside for
topping. Par-bake the crust in upper third of the oven for 12
minutes; the layer will not be browned. For the filling: Meanwhile, combine the
fresh and dried cranberries, jam, and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Stirring constantly, bring to a full boil over medium-high heat.
Boil, stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using a table
knife, evenly spread the cranberry mixture over the crust. Sprinkle
the remaining streusel evenly over the filling. Pat down lightly. Bake in the upper third of the oven for
25 to 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the filling
is bubbly. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Let cool to warm.
If desired, trim off and discard any overly brown edges all the
way around using a large, sharp knife. Cut and serve the bars
warm as individual desserts or coffee klatch treats; or cut them
small and serve at room temperature as cookies. |
Good Things Happen When She's in the Kitchen!
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American
Heritage Baking—Let’s Bake and Learn
Beauties
of the Bogs
Cranberries
weren’t always so universally available or widely enjoyed
in this country. Eaten by various Native American peoples and
many early Colonists who settled near bogs, the berries were mostly
known only where they grew naturally until the nineteenth century.
Then, as Simeon L. Deyo, editor of an 1890 history of Massachusetts’
Barnstable County put it, “a change of taste … brought
this little waif of the swamp lands into notice … and made
it a favorite with the epicures of every country.” Suddenly,
Deyo observed, large numbers of bogs and lowlands with wild fruit
that was once “carelessly passed” were “transformed
from a condition of seeming worthlessness to the most valuable
land of the county. “