Benefits of cranberries: More than just a Thanksgiving side dish
Those little red berries relegated to ho-hum side dishes on everyone’s table at Thanksgiving have gained new stature as a health food, a glamorous dessert, and a versatile ingredient of everything from pies to ketchup and salsa.
Despite their low status on the hierarchy of Thanksgiving foods, cranberries are American originals. Appropriately served during the holiday season, they were introduced to European settlers by the Native Americans who gathered them wild, cooked them with honey and maple sugar, and dried them for winter use.
A good source of vitamin C, sailors ate cranberries on long voyages to ward off scurvy. Over the years, “old wives’ tales” also grew about the cranberry’s prowess as a fighter against asthma and skin ailments, and as an intestinal antiseptic, particularly for kidney and bladder infections.
Now there’s scientific evidence that at least one of these old wives’ tales is true; cranberries help fight bladder infection, particularly in older women. Scientists originally thought that reports of its bacteria-fighting abilities might be due to the cranberry’s high vitamin C content, which may stifle bladder infection by making urine too acidic for bacteria. Another study indicated that cranberry juice may contain a chemical that keeps bacteria from adhering to the bladder.
Aside from its apparent medicinal power to fight urinary infection, the lowly cranberry has also stepped out from its role as a traditional Thanksgiving side dish. Over the last 10 years, cranberries began appearing in pastry shops and dessert carts in dishes often combined with apples and other berries. They’re found in cookbooks and menus as salsas and sauces, in flash-frozen form on supermarket shelves, and in dried form in gourmet shops and markets.
Mixed with honey, cranberries make a great topping for a dessert or garnish for a pudding or pie. Some imaginative chefs are now blending cranberries, bell peppers, and/or jalapeno chili pepper, orange juice, and onions in a combination of sweet, spicy, and tart cranberry salsa. Others make unusual and tasty cranberry ketchup by combining the flavor of the berry with oranges, onions, garlic, and a concoction of pickling spices, vinegar, and a little brown sugar.
Cranberry Walnut Bread
2 cups unbleached, white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
3 tablespoons white vinegar plus enough water to make 2/3 cup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup halved or coarsely chopped raw cranberries
1 egg
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preparation:
- Start heating the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan.
- In a mixing bowl, sift flour, soda, salt, and sugar. With a fork, beat the egg, stir in orange juice and rind, vinegar-water mixture, and canola oil. Add all at once to the flour mixture; stir just until all flour is moistened.
- Add cranberries and walnuts; turn into pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until cake tester, inserted in center, comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, remove. Cool overnight before slicing. (P.S. This bread freezes well, too.)
