Karen here with a blog inspired by 'Eat a Cranberry' Day. It's strange concept, to celebrate cranberries by encouraging the consumption of just one, but I'm going to assume the campaign is aimed at promoting this traditionally festive berry in any quantity.
First of all, let's hear some interesting facts:
-Cranberries are native to North America and have been used not just for food, but for dye and medicine too. Early settlers also used cranberries to prevent scurvy due to their high vitamin C content.
-Cranberries can be harvested by both dry harvest or wet harvest. Wet harvesting involves cranberries being grown in bogs which can be flooded allowing pickers to see which cranberries are ripe, because they float! To learn more and see some incredible pictures of it, here's a blog all about it: New England Cranberry Harvest (or click on the image to open up its source. )
-You may have come across fresh cranberries in Village Greens at this time of year. Fresh cranberries are low in sugar, but when dried they can become a bit tart so they often come sweetened. Something to bear in mind if you are watching your sugar intake.
-Cranberries also have numerous health benefits. As I mentioned, they have a high vitamin C content so it is thought to help boost immunity, increase collagen production and help the absorption of iron from plant based sources.
-Cranberries are also thought to benefit the heart by reducing blood pressure, inflammation and other risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. They also promote insulin regulation, reducing fasting insulin and improving insulin sensitivity, which is beneficial for managing diabetes risks. They are also good for the urinary tract as they prevent bacteria from attaching to the wall of the bladder. (Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service)
So how can we get more cranberries into our diets? Well, on looking into this, the most common recipes seemed to all be cakes and biscuits, which obviously, whilst delicious, have lots of other ingredients that are not so good for us. Cranberries add a bit of tartness to a recipe which is often balanced by sugar but not always. Here is my list of the most popular ways to use cranberries.
Cranberry sauce: Popular around Christmas time, made usually with sugar, orange juice and spices.
Cranberry muffins: Made with either fresh or dried cranberries, usually with a bit of orange zest.
Cranberry salad: Adding dried cranberries to green leaves, nuts and maybe the Violife feta or blue block. A nice Christmas salad, especially when dressed with a nice vinaigrette.
Cranberry bread: The artisan bakers that supply Village Greens always come up with an amazing special recipe loaf at Christmas, often incorporating cranberries and some orange zest! Delicious! (Recipe coming up!)
Cranberry bars or flapjacks: Shortbread or oat based bars with cranberries and other additions such as white chocolate or seeds make a great energy snack.
Cranberry smoothies: Cranberries blended with your usual smoothie ingredients such as bananas, apples, or oranges, make a great festive smoothie. The use of natural sugars in fruit can balance the tartness.
To complete this celebration of cranberries I decided to make cranberry loaf. I used dried cranberries, sweetened with pineapple juice. I prefer these to those sweetened with sugar. It was a perfect start to brighten up a rainy Sunday morning!
My go to recipe for a loaf is as follows:
-500g strong white bread flour
-7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
-1.5tsp salt
-300ml slightly warm water
(When I first started making bread I found a lot of recipes also had oil and sugar too but after staying with an organic baker on our Wwoofing adventure (read all about that here) I found that there were really only 4 necessary ingredients for a lovely loaf.)
-Additions. For this cranberry loaf I added a handful of dried cranberries, the zest of one orange and a handful of chopped cashews.
The method is pretty simple.
Combine the flour, yeast, salt and warm water in a large bowl and mix till combined.
Then knead for around 10 minutes. I usually do this in the bowl (to save on the mess!) but you might like to do this on a floured worktop.
Then cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for at least an hour until it has increased in size.
Then knead it again but add the additions until evenly combined and put in an oiled loaf tin. Recover with the tea towel and leave for another hour until it has risen to fill the tin.
Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for 25-30 mins. It should be a nice golden colour and sound hollow when you tap on the bottom of the loaf. Turn out of the tin and leave on a wire rack to cool.
We loved it toasted with plenty of plant based butter!
Well that concludes this celebratory blog. I'm off for some tea and cranberry toast. I hope you have been inspired to find new ways to add a bit of cranberry to your life!
Thanks for reading
Karen x
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