The Berry With Bite

Someday I would like to see a cranberry harvest: crimson fruit floating on flooded coastal fields, skimmed off like a school of tropical fish.

Any food that brilliant, that hardy, that distinctive in flavor deserves its place at the holiday table. Cranberries’ tartness may not make for solo fare, but

it serves as the perfect compliment to savory main dishes, starchy vegetables, and yeasty rolls. Put another way, the cranberry is like an outspoken aunt who keeps conversation grounded with her tart practicality.

A spoonful of orange-cranberry relish, a slice of jellied cranberry sauce, or a pre-dinner glass of cranberry punch all serve the same purpose: to wake up your tongue, clear your head, and keep you in the present moment.

I AM SO FOND of that wake-you-up bite that I begin stashing one-pound bags of fresh cranberries in my freezer as soon as they show up in the grocery store, sometimes a month before Thanksgiving. I pull out my favorite cranberry recipes and feast with them on even the most ordinary days.

One cup stirred into a sweet batter makes outstanding muffins or a coffeecake. A cranberry relish—made perhaps with the spices of Indian cooking—goes with all manner of sandwiches. Cooked whole with sugar, cranberries make a fine sauce to serve with meats or baked vegetables. A creamy cranberry jello dish fits right in at a November or December potluck; kids love the bright pink.

The ruby color and high gloss of fresh cranberries can be used to please the eye as well as the tongue. For a table center piece, fill two wine glasses with thawed, uncooked berries. Insert a candle in each glass. Arrange holly or evergreen sprigs around the candle for a winter touch, or oak or maple leaves for a harvest feel. You could tumble cranberries directly onto a wood tabletop around an arrangement of flowers, dried grasses, or a shapely pumpkin. Or set a full dish on your kitchen counter or windowsill to remind you every time you pass that this is harvest season.

If you dry them in the oven or food dehydrator, you can actually eat cranberries unsweetened, almost impossible to do with the fresh, plump berries. They taste like a cross between a dried apricot and a raisin. Dried cranberries can be stored in a jar for months, allowing you to have cranberry muffins or cranberry granola during cranberry "off-season." They are available in the bulk section of health food stores if you don’t want to dry your own.

Cranberry juice is famous for its apparent medicinal qualities in relation to urinary tract infections and for its high vitamin C content. The clean, acidic, fruity taste of cranberry juice makes it an excellent substitute for wine at a meal where a non-alcoholic beverage is desired.

This glowing report will not convince everyone to like cranberries, of course. Many people find them just too sour to be appealing. However the following recipe is one that has been approved by both cranberry lovers and cranberry haters, so I will include it with confidence for you to try this cranberry season.

Cranberry Coffeecake

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 2 cups fresh cranberries

Topping:

• 2 Tbls. butter
• 2 Tbls. cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, yogurt, and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine salt, baking soda, and flour. Add dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture. Stir in cranberries. Pour into a greased 9-by-9- or 9-by-13-inch pan. (The 9-by-9 pan takes longer to bake, but yields thick, moist slices.)

To make topping, mix cinnamon and sugar. Cut in butter. Sprinkle over cake (with chopped nuts, if desired). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the pan size.

The batter may also be baked in muffin tins, with or without the topping. Reduce baking time to 20 minutes.

CAREY BURKETT, former assistant to the editor at Sojourners, is now an organic vegetable farmer in Hallettsville, Texas.