What's For Dinner? v. 16.20 - Cranberries: from salad to dessert - and even a cocktail!

‘Tis the season to enjoy cranberries, in all their beauty and (with a bit of sweetening) their deliciousness. This WFD entry is a joint venture by Hanging Up My Tusks (in the middle) and pixxer (at the edges), since both of us have favorite recipes we want to share with you. We’ll add some more recipes in the comments, too.

[pix]  I wanted to start with a bit about the berries themselves. A quick search led me to the Massachusetts-based cranberries.org, which told me, among many other things, how  cranberries grow (see box),  where they grow (the northern part of the country), and their health benefits.

The cranberry is a Native American wetland fruit which grows on trailing vines like a strawberry. The vines thrive on the special combination of soils and water properties found in wetlands. Wetlands are nature's sponges; they store and purify water and help to maintain the water table. Cranberries grow in beds layered with sand, peat and gravel. These beds are commonly known as bogs or marshes and were originally formed as a result of glacial deposits.

We could have cheated and just copied all the recipes from cranberries.org into this diary, but you can go there yourself and check those out. Below are the ones we, personally, love, and love to make.

Also, there are “Cranberry Tips” right at the end. Please add your own in the comments!

What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions.

We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!