Cranberries for Thanksgiving

Cranberries are the mainstay of our fall table: cranberry bread, cranberry & apple jam, cranberry juice, cooked cranberries, and fresh cranberries with oranges. The uses of those little red berries to brighten up the table or a lunchbox are endless. I want to share my favorite - and the most easy - recipe for cranberry salad. I make this at least once a week as long as I can get my hands on fresh cranberries. And oranges. And sugar. That's all, folks!

But before I go into all of that, I learned something a few years ago. Cranberries grow in bogs, and there is an area in West Bend, of all places, where cranberries used to be grown. There is not much written about the bogs, but if you wander off of the Ice Age Trail just north of the University of Wisconsin - Washington County campus, you can see the remnants of bogs; the low-lying, rectangular fields where cranberry plants were flooded and harvested, and which now are pretty grown over with prairie plants and small trees. I didn't know that West Bend had a cranberry history, did you? I will see if I can find out more info for a future blog post. Just because I am interested in it.

OK! Here's the scoop on how to make this crunchy, sweet, cranberry freshness:

Ingredients: For every 12-oz. bag of fresh cranberries, you will need 1 - 2 oranges and about 3/4 - 1 cup of sugar.
Equipment: You will need a bowl, a spoon, a paring knife, a colander, a food-processor, & measuring cup

Rinse the cranberries in the colander and allow to drain for a few minutes. Place the fine-chopping blade on the food processor and begin to chop the cranberries, a few handfuls at a time. Peel the orange(s) - I like to use the back of a spoon to do that; it is so much easier! Roughly chop the oranges into about 1-inch pieces and also put them into the food processor, chopping the chunks into tiny pieces as well.

Now, pour the chopped fruit into a large bowl. Remove larger orange pieces that did not chop finely. These can be cut up finely with a knife, or eaten by the cook, or discarded. Whichever you choose!

Next, add the sugar. If you used two oranges, you can use a little less sugar, and of course, you can add more or less to the overall recipe as your tastes desire. Stir the sugar in thoroughly. Refrigerate at least one hour. Serve slightly chilled. This salad will keep for at least a day, so you can make it ahead of a big dinner, such as Thanksgiving, and give yourself a break! Unless of course, you have to "taste" it a lot. Then you just have to make more.

This salad is wonderful with the traditional chicken or turkey dinner, but it will brighten a sandwich lunch or a simple soup supper. Yum.