Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Heads or Tails - Starts with C


Cranberry Close-up
Originally uploaded by moonlightbaker.


Today it's HEADS - Any word that starts with the letter C

My C word is Cranberries.

For many years, my only experience with Cranberries was that jellied stuff that comes in a can. It was OK, but nothing to write home about, or even post in this blog about. It does go rather well with turkey, and we still have it at Thanksgiving. Then, several years ago we were visiting friends, and she had decorated the table with fresh Cranberries amongst the candles. For some reason I picked up a Cranberry and popped it into my mouth. Yum! I was hooked. It was so deliciously sour. I just love popping those Cranberries!

Besides eating them straight out of the bag, I like cooking with Cranberries, too. I love Cranberry Apple Crisp, and I usually go a little short on the sugar so I don't lose any of that delicious tartness. The vanilla ice cream on top is good for the sweetness. I also love this Cranberry Nut Bread. I have some cranberry pictures on Flickr, but since they're no longer a part of my photo stream, I was having trouble finding them. So, I started searching for Cranberry pictures and found a whole bunch of them. Not just Cranberry pictures, but pictures of muffins and breads and cakes made with Cranberries. I am going to have to explore these pictures and hope they will lead me to the recipes, because so many of these sound amazing - starting with these Cranberry Walnut Bread Rolls - and I checked, there's a link to the recipe.

A few years ago when I heard of Craisins dried Cranberries, I was very excited. They sounded so good, and then I tried them. Sweet? Why were they sweet? Why would anyone mess with the natural goodness of the Cranberry by adding so much sugar? I never bought those again. This past Fall when we were in the Wisconsin Dells, I walked into a little shop called Cranberry Connections and ended up talking to the girl who worked there. I mentioned how I didn't really like the dried Cranberries because they were too sweet, and she said they had some with no added sugar. They were sweetened with apple juice. She let me taste some, and they were great - so I immediately bought some. They also have a website, so I can order more when I run out.

Wisconsin is the nation’s leader in cranberry farming and produces more than 300 million pounds of fruit annually – more than half of the estimated 575 million pounds of cranberries that Americans consume each year. - Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association - Obviously I'm not the only one who loves Cranberries.

Check out other Heads or Tails participants and see what C words they chose.

10 comments:

  1. That cranberry apple crisp sounds awesome!!!

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  2. Cranberry Nut Bread? That´s exactly what I need right now =)

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  3. All this talk of food is making me hungry. I don't think I've ever eaten a fresh cranberry. I wonder why? Maybe I thought they were just for Thanksgiving?

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  4. About the only way I like cranberries is in juice, but I do love cranberry juice. Mmm!

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  5. Oh, how refreshing! I adore cranberry anything.
    Happy Tuesday! :)

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  6. I have never had a cranberry, not even the jelly kind. I have had cranberry juice, and liked it!

    Have a great tuesday!

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  7. I love cranberry, but have never tried cranberry apple crisp (man I am doing a lot of cooking this weekend because of HorT) but I am especially going to try those no sugar added dried ones!!! I am so glad you shared.

    Happy Tuesday

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  8. Craisins are one of our favorites!! Great write up, here!!

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  9. I don't quite pop them yet, but I, too, have a new found appreciation for the cranberry. Especially in baking! Yum! :) Great post!! :)

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  10. awwww You burst my little regional bubble here! I honestly thought that Cape Cod produced the most cranberries. I never read about it or saw anything: just assumed. This is interesting stuff!

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