by Claire Lassam | Terrifyingly, it’s January. And though Christmas has come and gone, it can still mean cranberries to those who don’t pair great flavours exclusively with holidays. Perfect, bright red berries are tart as hell and lend themselves beautifully to cookies, soft cheeses, and turkey (though that last ship has obviously sailed for most home cooks). Recipes for cranberry sauce date back to 1663, but are referenced as early as 1550. They were first introduced to Europeans by Native Americans. They became popular early on with the settlers because of their high vitamin C count which, as Jon Josselyn wrote in his 1672 book New England Rarities Discovered, “They are excellent against the Scurvy”. By the late the 1700’s, they were being served at Harvard commencement dinners, meaning they’d officially come a long way. Even Thomas Jefferson was a fan. In 1816, Massachusetts Henry Hall harvesting them in Massachusett took them a little further by shipping them to Europe. From there, the global love for them took off. Within ten years, they were harvesting them in Russia, Scotland and all across Scandinavia. They’re big business here in BC, where 17 million kilograms are produced each year. Cranberries can be harvested by hand. About 5% of the international pick still is, and these are often sold fresh to consumers. The other 95% gets wet-picked and then turned into juice. In order to wet-pick a field of the berries, the soil has to have a top layer of sand and a dyke built around the field. Then, when harvest time comes and the berries get their distinctive deep red colour, the fields are flooded. At this point, with roughly 8 inches of water above the tops of the bushes, the berries float up to the top. I have, unfortunately, never seen this but the pictures of the fields coloured a deep crimson as far as the eye can see are pretty sensational.

If you’re on the look out for these beautiful little numbers, I saw them recently at West with a spiced apple cake and cream cheese ice cream, which sounded epic in my books, and at Thierry on Alberni, where they add a spike to Parisian macarons. If you’re keen to experiment with cranberries at home, I recommend trying little pâtes de fruits (aka fancy French jellies). They’re simple to make, and last for weeks at room temperature. The recipe that we work with at Beta 5 can be found after the jump…

Cranberry-Orange Pate de Fruits

(recipe kindly shared by Adam Chandler at Beta5 Chocolates)

INGREDIENTS

250g fresh cranberries
500g orange juice
a bundle of whole winter spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg, a slice or two of fresh ginger)
500g sugar
50g glucose
100g sugar
12g apple pectin
30g lemon juice
sugar, as needed

DIRECTIONS

1. Simmer cranberries in orange juice with whole spice until their skins pop.

2. Remove from heat, discard spices, and then puree.

3. Combine the resulting puree with 500g sugar and glucose, and bring to a boil.

4. Stir together sugar and pectin, and whisk into boiling puree.

5. Continue boiling (while stirring) until mixture reaches 106C.

6. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice.

7. Pour into a silicone tray and allow to cool overnight.

8. Cut into 1” squares and toss with granulated sugar.

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Claire Lassam is a baker, blogger, and freelance writer based in East Van. She has been cooking and baking her way through the city for nearly five years, working in restaurants ranging from Cioppino’s to Meat & Bread. She currently works at Beta 5 Chocolates and runs the baking blog Just Something Pretty.

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