Cranberries - what next?

[kernowyon]

as the title said, I have just harvested my very first cranberries so what can you do with them. any ideas?

[zazen999]

Aren't they traditionally served at Thanksgiving???

If you become an honorary Canadian for the day - have your Thanksgiving in 10 days and have it as sauce.....

[bazzaboy]

Strange and timely you should raise this just now, Kernowyon, coz faced with a surfeit of crab apples I was scouting around for things to do with 'em and came across a recipe for "Mulled Cranberry and Apple Sauce" which had a certain appeal.... But - usual dilemma, duh - I didn't have any cranberries! As if to bring it home even more, coincidentally "Delicious Magazine" this month had a recipe for a frozen "Mulled Winter Fruit Crumble" which included cranberries in a fairly exotic mix along with apricots, figs, pineapple, paw-paw and mango (I'm always keen to find things to do with figs, can't claim to grow much pineapple, paw-paw or mango in Nottinghamshire so cheat a lot) - apart from that aspect a pretty standard Crumble recipe.... but using cranberries...

It was at this point I realised I didn't know much about growing cranberries so looked them up on Ken Muir with a promise to get some going for next year... (Any growing tips?)

Now "Delicious" seem really keen on cranberries - bit of a gourmet tactic perhaps? - and their website has pages of recipes using them in various ways... start at:
Search Results | delicious. Magazine

As with many fruits, cranberries are usable in different forms in just about all stages of a meal, there's a long list of suggestions on the Recipes 4 Us site, starting with soup, ending with a pud and covering just about everything else inbetween! See
Cranberry Recipes - Lots of recipes using fresh and dried Cranberries

So congrats on first harvest, certainly not too much of a problem to find uses, have fun..... If you can crop them in the first year (can you?) I'll be interested in what worked best next year! b.

[annacruachan]

One contestant in Masterchef Professionals this week made a cranberry vinaigrette to go with venison. Can't be too difficult and would go with other meats as well.
I would cook the cranberries with sugar and a little water until soft but still mostly whole, then add to a vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar and olive oil plus salt and pepper. Maybe a pinch of ground allspice when cooking the cranberries. worth a try!

[FoxHillGardener]

My cranberry harvest this year was a whole one berry. But next year I'll be trying to make my own cranberry sauce. Fingers crossed

[kernowyon]

this is the second year i have had the plants, last year i had the grand total of zero cranberries, so a good couple of handfulls of berries this year was a bonus, just have to keep the OH and kids off them until I work out what to do with them all.

[Polly Fouracre]

They will freeze or dry well.

[annacruachan]

I made a chutney this year using only red fruit plus red onions and a bag of cranberries which were lurking in the freezer from last crimbo. It looks very festive and I have called it Christmas Chutney - it tastes great too. Could be a good way to use a couple of handfuls of cranberries.

[Snadger]

Are they hard to grow? Know nothing about them but they are my favourite drink at the mo!

[WrexTheDragon]

You would need a lot of cranberries to produce anything worth drinking.

I like to freeze mine, Use some at Christmas making them into a sauce with orange juice.
Then they go in my porridge at night with frozen blueberries and wild strawberries for breakfast.